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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
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https://archive.org/details/cuneiforminscripOOmorg 


CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS 

CHALDEAN,  BABYLONIAN  and  ASSYRIAN 

COLLECTIONS  CONTAINED  IN  THE 

LIBRARY  OF  J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN 


CATALOGUED  BY 

The  Rev.  C.  H.  W.  JOHNS,  M.A. 

Lecturer  on  Assyriology  in  Queens'  College , Cambridge 


New  Haven 

YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
London  • Humphrey  Milford  • Oxford  University  Press 
MDCCCCXX 


FOREWORD 


FOREWORD 


/T  is  quite  true  that  American  enterprise  has  been  notable  in  the 
fields  of  material  progress,  and  our  distinction,  and  often  our 
primacy,  has  been  acknowledged  in  other  lands.  But  it  has  been 
often  asserted  that  in  the  fields  of  scholarship  we  have  fallen  far 
behind;  that  we  have  not  only  been  compelled  to  go  to  the  Universi- 
ties of  Europe  for  the  higher  education  of  our  youth,  but  that  our 
older  scholars  have  failed  to  reach  the  distinction  of  those  of  other 
lands.  This  is  too  largely  true,  yet  not  wholly  so.  Certainly  it 
has  been  true  in  those  lines  of  study  which  require  material  for  re- 
search not  to  be  had  in  this  country.  The  editing  of  classical  manu- 
scripts must  be  done  in  lands  where  they  are  to  be  found  in  libraries 
or  monasteries.  Until  very  lately  the  study  of  the  rich  treasures 
excavated  in  the  valleys  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  which  have 
given  an  entirely  new  view  of  primitive  history  and  mythology,  has  re- 
quired residence  near  the  museums  where  these  treasures  are  gathered, 
and  it  has  been  only  brief  and  tantalizing  vacations  which  American 
scholars  could  give  to  their  inspection.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
study  of  the  monuments  of  Egypt. 

But  we  now  have  a body  of  younger  scholars  who  are  eager 
to  pursue  the  study  of  Assyriology,  and  have  made  their  first  essay 
at  original  research  in  the  British  Museum  or  the  Louvre.  Only 
within  a few  years  have  they  found  any  material  whatever  for  study 
in  this  country.  I think  the  first  small  collection  of  tablets  and 
seal  cylinders  was  brought  by  me  from  Babylonia  when  in  charge 
of  the  Wolfe  Expedition  in  1885;  and  not  long  after  they  became 
the  nucleus  for  a desired  collection  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum. 
That  expedition,  which  was  solely  for  exploration,  and  not  at  all  for 
excavation,  was  followed  some  years  later  by  the  expedition  of  the 


5 


University  of  Pennsylvania,  conducted  by  Dr.  J.  P.  Peters  and  after- 
ward by  Dr.  J.  H.  Haynes  and  Dr.  H.  V.  Hilprecht,  at  the  site 
of  the  ancient  city  of  Nippur,  one  of  the  three  sites  recommended 
by  me,  on  my  return  from  the  charge  of  the  Wolfe  Expedition,  for 
excavation  by  American  scholars.  The  fine  enterprise  of  the  friends 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  provided  the  means  for  the  very 
successful  expedition  at  Nippur;  and  the  Sultan  very  graciously 
allowed  a large  part  of  the  tablets  and  other  things  collected  there 
to  be  brought  to  this  country.  From  this  material  it  has  been  pos- 
sible for  Professor  Hilprecht  and  his  pupils,  among  whom  Mr.  A.  T. 
Clay  deserves  special  mention,  to  do  scholarly  work  which  has  added 
much  to  our  knowledge  of  Babylonian  history  and  the  language  and 
literature  of  that  ancient  people,  and  to  the  honor  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  and  of  American  enterprise  and  scholarship  in  a 
new  and  difficult  field.  Of  the  fruits  of  the  later  expedition  of 
the  University  of  Chicago,  at  the  ancient  city  of  Adab,  the  third 
site  recommended  by  me  in  1885,  it  is  as  yet  too  early  to  speak.  At 
the  third  of  the  three  huge  mounds  recommended  by  the  Wolfe 
Expedition  for  excavation,  the  capital  of  the  famous  Elder  Sargon, 
Anbar,  long  lost  to  maps,  and  a famous  center  of  the  Jewish  dis- 
persion, not  a spade  has  yet  been  struck  by  European  or  American 
explorers. 

It  is  the  chief  object,  as  I understand  it,  of  Mr.  Morgan  in 
bringing  to  this  country  the  written  and  figured  monuments  of  the 
early  East,  such  as  tablets,  seal  cylinders,  bas-reliefs  or  statues,  to 
put  within  the  reach  of  American  scholars  the  material  necessary 
for  adding  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world.  Whatever  is  the  fruit 
of  excavation  by  accredited  expeditions,  whether  European  or  Amer- 
ican, must  go  to  the  Ottoman  Museum  at  Constantinople,  except 
as  the  Turkish  Government  graciously  presents  it  to  those  who 
have  done  the  work. 

But  a very  large  portion  of  such  objects  is  dug  up  by  the  natives 
of  the  country,  who  pursue  this  business  assiduously  and  manage 

6 


somehow  to  send  them  to  the  European  capitals.  It  is  desirable 
that  such  objects  be  not  scattered  and  lost  to  scholarship,  but  that 
they  be  gathered  into  responsible  and  accessible  collections. 

A portion  of  the  large  collection  made  by  Mr.  Morgan  is  in- 
cluded in  the  descriptions  and  translations  given  in  this  volume  by 
Mr.  Johns.  He  has  translated  many  texts,  published  in  his  “As- 
syrian Doomsday  Book”  “Babylonian  and  Assyrian  Laws,  Contracts 
and  Letters”  and  the  three  volumes  of  his  “Assyrian  Deeds  and  Docu- 
ments Recording  the  Transfer  of  Property.”  The  present  volume 
adds  to  the  debt  which  the  enlarging  circle  of  Oriental  scholars 
owe  to  one  of  their  most  competent  members.  It  is  particularly 
happy  that  so  valuable  a collection  has  come  under  his  study,  one 
in  which  the  distinguished  French  scholar  Scheil  has  already  found 
very  choice  material.  Now  that  this  fine  collection  is  brought  to 
this  country,  to  be  followed  doubtless  by  other  similar  treasures,  we 
may  expect  that  our  eager  American  scholars  will  find  much  more 
to  reward  their  search  in  Mr.  Morgan’s  library. 

William  Hayes  Ward. 


7 


INTRODUCTION 


FRAGMENT  OF  THE  DELUGE  LEGEND. 


INTRODUCTION 

rHE  people  of  Mesopotamia,  who  occupied  the  basin  of  the  two 
great  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  very  early  attained  a civiliza- 
tion, which  has  had  a wider  influence  on  mankind  than  anything 
previous  to  the  invention  of  printing  and  the  revival  of  Greek  learning. 


II 


Echoes  of  its  far  distant  renown  were  heard  in  the  classics  and  both 
Assyria  and  Babylon  loom  large  on  the  political  horizon  of  Israel  and 
Judah  in  the  Bible.  These  ancient  empires  had  passed  away,  and  so 
long  ago  that  the  visitor  to  the  ruins  of  Babylon  or  Nineveh  was  con- 
tent to  muse  over  past  greatness  and  reconstruct  from  scattered  and 
mythical  traditions  a dim  picture  of  their  glory.  Had  some  spirit 
whispered  that  their  history  and  even  every-day  doings  would  one  day 
be  known  again  a modern  scholar  would  have  smiled  in  unbelief.  All 
written  memorials,  if  indeed  such  ancient  and  barbarous  peoples  could 
write,  must  long  have  perished.  Papyrus  or  parchment  frays  out  or 
decays,  paper  was  not  invented,  and  here  is  a widely  different  climate 
from  the  dust-dry  soil  or  rainless  sky  of  Egypt.  Yet  it  has  been  even 
so,  not  only  have  wall  sculptures  been  uncovered  in  the  places  of  an- 
cient kings,  depicting  their  battles,  hunting,  and  even  domestic  scenes, 
but  more  wonderful  still  the  most  intimate  details  of  private  life,  the 
laws,  literature,  history,  religion,  science  and  arts,  are  all  fully  de- 
scribed in  innumerable  documents  often  little  the  worse  for  having 
been  thousands  of  years  buried  beneath  the  soil. 

Babylonia  produced  but  few  trees  or  stones  of  any  size,  but  the 
mighty  torrents  of  its  rivers,  when  the  snows  melted  in  Armenia  and 
the  Caucasus,  poured  down  annual  floods  that  deposited  sand  and 
clay  of  the  finest  quality,  everywhere  that  man  did  not  interfere  with 
his  canals  and  dams  to  check  and  control  the  deluge.  Hence  brick 
became  the  staple  building  material  and  clay  the  depository  alike  of 
the  thoughts  of  early  sages  and  the  wants  or  wishes  of  the  workaday 
folk.  The  clay  was  so  tough  that  merely  dried  in  the  sun  adobes  or 
unburnt  bricks  made  excellent  walls,  that  resist  the  pick  and  shovel 
to-day  with  marvelous  strength,  and  when  these  walls  fell  down  the 
changes  of  the  seasons  reduced  them  to  earth  again,  so  covering  all 
that  lay  beneath  them  with  an  impervious  mantle  of  clay.  The 
written  records  inscribed  on  tough  clay  or  baked  to  a fine  terra  cotta, 
suffered  little  in  such  a packing,  and  are  often  as  sharp  and  clear  to 
read  as  on  the  day  they  were  written.  A glance  at  many  of  the 
tablets  in  these  collections  will  convince  any  one  that  the  tablet  is  just 
as  it  left  the  hands  of  the  writer.  Only  such  documents  as  were 
deemed  worthy  of  being  preserved  were  burnt,  the  every-day  matters 
were  written  down  on  a lump  of  tough  clay  and  dried  in  the  sun. 
The  great  danger  to  these  is  the  tool  of  the  digger.  But  where  due 
care  has  been  taken  even  unbaked  tablets  are  none  the  worse  for 
their  long  burial. 


12 


It  is  startling  to  realize  that  six  thousand  years  ago  most  men  and 
many  women  could  write  and  read  in  that  far  off  land  at  the  mouths 
of  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates.  Letters  passed,  not  only  between  mon- 
archs,  governors  and  priests,  but  between  husband  and  wife,  brother 
and  sister,  lovers  or  business  partners,  merchants  and  their  agents. 
The  cook  sent  the  errand  boy  to  the  shopkeeper  with  an  order  for 
goods  and  the  debtor  paid  his  creditor  with  a request  on  clay  to  the 
banker ; while  the  creditor  deposited  the  same,  like  a check,  to  stand  to 
his  credit  till  wanted. 

The  system  of  writing  was  once  pictorial,  then  the  picture  signs 
became  conventional  representations  of  the  objects  intended,  executed 
with  a few  bold  strokes,  without  much  artistic  attempt  to  copy 
nature.  Not  that  the  artistic  faculty  was  lacking,  for  contemporary 
engravings  on  precious  stones,  seals  and  amulets,  show  a power  to 
depict  men  and  animals  with  a lifelike  energy  never  surpassed  in 
antiquity.  The  necessity  of  writing  much  and  fast  overrode  the  desire 
for  accurate  portrayal  and  use  superseded  the  need  for  it.  As  in 
Egypt  the  exquisite  little  pictures  which  served  as  hieroglyphs,  though 
long  preserved  for  literary  works,  gave  place  in  every-day  life  to  a 
demotic  script.  Whether  because  the  picture  writing  and  its  demotic 
stage  are  incomparably  more  ancient,  or  whether  the  use  of  clay  as  the 
writing  material  hastened  the  evolution,  we  have  scarcely  any  trace 
of  either  in  the  writings  hitherto  found.  Two  tablets  discovered  by 
Professor  Scheil  and  the  Monument  Blau  are  almost  the  only  relics 
we  have  of  this  stage.  The  history  of  the  script  begins  when  conven- 
tional pictures  are  constructed  solely  of  straight  lines,  the  arc  of  the 
curve  replacing  the  line,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  we 
can  conjecture  from  them  what  the  original  picture  denoted. 

The  process  was  hastened  by  a natural  law  of  writing  in  general. 
The  sign  that  once  stood  for  a cow,  lithe , was  used  to  denote  the 
syllable  lit;  but  when  the  scribe  wished  to  write  lit  he  no  longer 
thought  of  a cow  as  the  sign  he  should  use.  As  long  as  the  sign 
could  be  recognized  to  be  lit,  there  was  no  need  so  to  form  it  as  to 
suggest  a cow.  So  complicated  signs,  tedious  to  draw,  were  simpli- 
fied by  continual  omission  of  strokes  till  likeness  to  earlier  forms  was 
gone.  Signs,  too,  that  once  were  distinct,  became  confused  and  re- 
placed by  one  sign.  Thus, -j— read  mash,  and  denoting  a half,  mashlu, 
was  combined  with  |^,  read  bar,  and  replaced  by  one  sign,  f . read 
either  mash  or  bar.  * 


13 


The  scribe  carefully  selected  his  clay  and  formed  it  into  an  oblong 
cake,  which  he  held  in  his  left  hand.  If  he  meant  to  write  on  both 
sides,  when  he  turned  over  the  pressure  would  obliterate  his  writing. 
So  he  usually  made  the  obverse  quite  flat,  and  then,  the  pressure  being 
the  same  all  over  the  surface,  very  little  damage  was  done.  In  order 
to  free  the  clay  from  grit  and  pebbles,  the  scribe  often  rolled  out  the 
clay  into  a thin  sheet,  then  doubled  it  up,  or  made  a roll  of  it.  He 
did  not  always  get  all  the  air  squeezed  out,  and  when  he  baked  his 
tablet  pieces  flew  off,  or  in  after  years,  when  a small  fracture  was 
made,  the  outer  sheet  flaked  off,  carrying  the  writing  with  it.  But 
the  best  specimens  were  so  carefully  made  that  they  have  escaped 
all  injury  and  even  a fall  on  a stone  floor  does  not  chip  them. 

The  scribe  wrote  on  the  soft  clay  with  a reed  of  triangular  section 
or  a metal  stylus  of  peculiar  shape.  His  work  can  be  very  well  imi- 
tated on  a lump  of  clay,  putty  or  dough,  with  a square  sectioned 
lucifer  match,  taking  care  to  keep  one  edge  nearly  flat  on  the  lump. 
The  end  of  the  stick  will  make  a nail-shaped  impression,  a wedge  in 
fact,  whence  the  name  “cuneiform,”  from  Latin  cuneus,  “a  wedge.” 
A careful  investigation  of  the  problems  involved  in  this  system  of 
writing  will  be  found  in  the  fourteenth  volume  of  Series  A of  the 
Babylonian  Expedition  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  by  Prof. 
A.  T.  Clay  (Philadelphia,  1906). 

Our  fathers  would  remember  the  world-wide  sensation  made 
by  the  discovery  of  the  palaces  of  Assyrian  kings  at  Khorsabad  by 
Botta  and  at  Nineveh  by  Layard,  lying  bare  the  sculptures  and  in- 
scriptions of  Sargon,  Sennacherib,  Esarhaddon  and  Sardanapalus, 
known  to  us  from  the  Bible  and  classical  writers,  but  by  a dim 
allusion  that  scarcely  removed  them  from  legendary  heroes  of  the 
past.  These  discoveries  revealed  their  actual  history  and  the  every- 
day life  of  the  people;  while  the  decipherment  of  the  inscriptions  by 
Grotefend  and  Rawlinson,  just  a century  ago,  gave  us  a new  world 
of  ancient  history  and  literature  that  has  profoundly  affected  our 
views  of  antiquity  and  the  origin  of  many  things  in  Israel  and  in 
Greece. 

The  surprise  has  worn  off,  but  really  more  sensational  discoveries 
have  been  made  since,  almost  annually,  in  that  home  of  mystery, 
cradle  of  science  and  tutor  of  the  world,  the  famed  Chaldea.  Some 
indication  of  its  importance  was  given  to  the  public  by  Professor 
Delitzsch’s  lectures  before  the  German  Emperor  on  Babel  und  Bibel, 


14 


which  made  such  a stir  in  Germany  a few  years  back.  At  any  rate 
they  show  how  important  it  is  that  the  public  should  know  and  ap- 
preciate the  bearing  of  the  discoveries  in  Babylonia  upon  all  ques- 
tions of  ancient  culture  and  the  beginnings  of  literature. 

Especially  have  the  explorations  of  the  French  at  Telloh  and 
Susa,  of  the  Germans  at  Babylon  and  Asshur,  and  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania’s  Expedition  to  Nippur  laid  an  enormous  mass  of  ma- 
terial before  the  learned  world,  and  every  year,  almost  every  month, 
sees  some  important  work  appear  bringing  fresh  results  to  light.  A 
very  useful  little  work  is  Prof.  A.  T.  Clay’s  Light  on  the  Old  Testa- 
ment from  Babel  (the  Sunday  School  Times  Company,  Philadelphia, 
1907),  which  throws  great  light  on  much  besides.  The  religious 
journals  and  periodicals  have  devoted  innumerable  articles  to  such 
subjects,  but  there  is  no  less  contribution  to  be  made  to  the  history 
of  institutions  and  inventions.  The  beginnings  of  mathematics,  as- 
tronomy, natural  history,  not  to  speak  of  literature,  law  and  ethics, 
are  traced  to  Babylonia,  and  we  still  use  their  measurement  of  time, 
if  not  their  weights  and  measures. 

In  his  wonderfully  successful  explorations  at  Telloh,  the  site  of 
the  ancient  Sumerian  city  Shirpurla,  later  known  to  the  Semitic 
Babylonians  as  Lagash,  M.  de  Sarzec  laid  bare  in  marvelous  state 
of  preservation  the  remains  of  an  extremely  early  civilization.  The 
rulers  of  Shirpurla,  whether  kings,  or  patesis  (pontiffs)  subject  to 
the  monarchs  of  Ur,  Isin,  Akkad  or  other  metropolis,  left  their 
monuments  in  such  profusion  that  it  has  been  possible  to  sketch  the 
history  of  the  state  for  centuries.  A very  splendid  work,  called 
Decouvertes  en  Chaldee , was  published  by  M.  Leon  Heuzey,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  French  Ministry  of  Education,  embodying  M.  de 
Sarzee’s  discoveries;  and  from  them  chiefly  Dr.  H.  Radau  has  com- 
piled his  valuable  Early  Babylonian  History  (Oxford  University 
Press,  New  York,  1900).  Since  then  much  has  been  added  to  our 
knowledge  of  old  Telloh  by  various  scholars,  among  whom  the  very 
first  rank  must  be  ever  assigned  to  Prof.  V.  Scheil,  best  known  as 
the  editor  of  the  Code  of  Hammurabi.  For  a series  of  years  his  un- 
tiring pen  contributed  to  various  scientific  journals,  especially  Mas- 
pero’s  Recueil  de  Travaux  relatifs  a la  Philologie  et  a V Archeologie 
and  Peiser’s  Orient alistische  Litter aturzeitung,  a number  of  Notes 
epigraphiqueSj  etc.,  of  the  highest  importance  for  early  Babylonian 
times,  based  largely  upon  the  texts  now  in  the  Morgan  collections. 
These  original  sources  are  now  made  available  for  reference  to  the 
scholars  of  America. 


15 


De  Sarzec,  at  the  close  of  his  campaign  of  1894,  laid  bare  a 
collection  of  some  thirty  thousand  tablets,  forming  the  archives  of 
an  ancient  temple  at  Telloh,  arranged  on  their  shelves  along  the 
walls  of  galleries  just  as  they  were  left  five  thousand  years  ago,  when 
the  roof  fell  in  and  buried  them.  Had  it  been  possible  to  keep  them 
together,  as  they  dated  from  every  year,  almost  every  day,  of  a very 
long  period,  and  concerned  the  most  minute  affairs  of  the  temple 
officials  and  many  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  city,  it  might 
have  been  possible  to  reconstruct  the  municipal  annals  of  Telloh  for 
the  third  millennium  B.  C.  with  a completeness  far  greater  than  that 
of  a European  city  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  too  late  in  the  year 
to  remove  such  an  immense  accumulation,  and  before  De  Sarzec 
could  resume  operations  the  natives  had  carried  off  the  bulk  of  the 
tablets.  These  archives  were  thus  scattered,  and  almost  every  museum 
in  Europe  and  America  possesses  Telloh  tablets  of  this  collection. 
From  their  numbers,  and  divorced  as  they  were  from  their  true 
connection,  seemingly  dry  and  uninteresting,  they  became  a drug  in 
the  market,  and  not  readily  finding  buyers,  quantities  have  been  de- 
stroyed. They  all  date  from  the  dynasty  of  Ur,  and  interest  in  them 
has  lately  revived.  A very  instructive  account  is  given  by  Dr.  J. 
Lau  in  his  Old  Babylonian  Temple  Records  (The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, New  York,  1906),  where  references  will  be  found  to  the  chief 
publications  of  the  tablets.  When  “Telloh  tablets”  are  spoken  of  this 
set  is  usually  meant.  The  present  collection  contains  but  few  of 
them,  only  twenty-seven  in  all. 

De  Sarzec,  however,  also  found  other  archives,  and  the  tablets 
hailing  from  Telloh  have  been  conveniently  classed  as  of  six  epochs: 
(1)  those  before  the  patesi  Ur-Nina;  (2)  from  his  time  to  the 
dynasty  of  Sargon  I.;  (3)  the  period  of  Sargon  I.  and  his  son  Naram- 
Sin,  kings  of  Akkad;  (4)  the  dynasty  of  Ur  (called  the  First 
Dynasty);  (5)  the  reign  of  Dungi;  (6)  the  reigns  of  Bur-Sin, 
Gimil-Sin  and  Ibi-Sin,  his  successors. 

Of  the  second  epoch  these  collections  embrace  about  forty,  re- 
markable for  their  exquisitely  fine  writing,  being  standard  specimens 
of  the  calligraphy  of  the  period  and  especially  valuable  for  the  light 
they  throw  upon  archaic  script.  They  also  date  from  the  time  of 
Lugalanda,  king  of  Shirpurla,  and  the  patesis  Enlitarzi,  Urukagina 
and  Eniggal.  Urukagina  was  also  king  later.  This  period  Radau 
put  at  4000  B.  C.,  and  it  is  certainly  before  Sargon  I.  The  tablets 

16 


are  deeply  interesting  also  for  a study  of  early  personal  names,  and 
throw  much  light  on  things  that  were  obscured  in  later  records.  The 
natives  of  Babylonia  have  also  discovered  many  tablets  ranging  over 
all  periods.  Doubtless  many  of  these  belonged  to  private  archives, 
the  deed  chests  of  great  families  or  business  firms.  It  is,  therefore, 
often  impossible  to  say  whether  such  tablets  come  from  native  dis- 
coveries or  were  abstracted  by  the  workmen  from  De  Sarzec’s  finds. 

These  collections  are  especially  rich  in  tablets  of  the  third  epoch, 
that  of  Sargon  of  Akkad  and  his  son  Naram-Sin.  The  former  has 
usually  been  dated,  as  by  Radau,  on  the  authority  of  Nabonidus,  last 
native  king  of  Babylon,  and  a great  antiquary  in  his  day,  at  B.  C. 
3800.  Later  discoveries  have  caused  this  date  to  be  doubted,  but  have 
not  succeeded  in  substituting  any  reasonable  alternative.  The  tablets 
are  assigned  to  this  date  chiefly  by  their  style  of  writing,  of  which 
they  are  exquisite  little  specimens.  From  their  small  size  they  could 
easily  be  stolen  by  workmen,  and  this  is  the  most  probable  explana- 
tion of  their  finding  their  way  into  the  market  and  not  to  the  Con- 
stantinople or  Paris  Museums.  There  are  about  sixty  of  them. 

The  tablets  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  epochs  are  usually  dated. 
The  Babylonians  assigned  to  each  year  a separate  name;  e.  g.,  “the 
year  in  which  Bur-Sin,  being  king,  devastated  the  city  Urbillum.” 
Lists  were  drawn  up  of  these  year-names  arranged  in  proper  chrono- 
logical order,  and,  in  a more  or  less  complete  condition,  several  of 
these  lists  have  been  preserved  to  us  and  published  by  various 
scholars.  Hence  it  is  often  possible  to  state  in  which  year  of  a king’s 
reign  a tablet  was  written.  Thus  the  above  quoted  year-name  is 
given  by  the  date  lists  as  the  second  year  of  Bur-Sin.  We  now  know 
how  long  each  king  of  the  dynasty  reigned,  and  by  checking  the  date 
lists  with  the  dates  actually  used  on  the  tablets  we  may  hope  to  com- 
plete the  chronology  for  the  whole  period. 

A very  large  number  of  all  the  collections  of  tablets  from  Telloh 
come  from  temple  archives.  The  purpose  of  these  tablets  was  to 
record  some  payment  or  donation  made  from  the  temple  stores  or 
received  from  worshipers,  tenants,  etc.,  as  offerings,  rents  or  dues. 
There  was  a large  number  of  persons  who  regularly  received  certain 
allowances  in  food,  drink,  or  other  goods.  By  what  title  they  re- 
ceived such  things  we  are  rarely,  if  ever,  told.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  particular  families,  descended  possibly  from  the  original 
group  who  formed  the  first  settlers  in  the  city,  or  deriving  from 


17 


them  by  conquest,  purchase  or  adoption,  had  the  right  to  so  many 
days  at  a particular  altar,  temple  gate  or  other  site  about  the  place. 
That  seems  to  imply  that  what  we  may  call  “the  temple  share”  of 
all  sacrifices,  offerings,  etc.,  and  the  temple  revenues  from  land  and 
investments,  were  shared  by  this  group  of  people.  They  were  by 
no  means  all  priests  or  temple  officials,  indeed  some  were  debarred  by 
sex  or  religious  disqualification  from  actually  officiating.  This  right 
could  be  pledged,  mortgaged,  let  out  by  its  owner,  but  only  during 
his  lifetime;  at  his  death  it  reverted  to  his  family.  Such  allowances 
may  be  called  rations. 

A temple  was  in  many  respects  very  like  a medieval  monastery. 
It  had  lands  and  endowments.  Possibly  all  the  land  of  the  city 
had  once  belonged  to  the  god,  that  is,  the  temple,  and  the  original 
group  of  settlers,  or  their  descendants,  heirs  and  assigns.  Private 
property  in  land  had,  however,  already  arrived.  The  temple  re- 
ceived much  revenue  from  its  lands  and  tenants  of  houses,  buildings, 
or  other  property.  It  also  lent  out  from  its  enormous  stores  of 
goods  paid  in  kind,  crops,  herds,  flocks,  etc.  Especially  frequent  are 
advances  of  corn,  oil,  wine,  wool,  even  silver.  Such  loans  usually 
name  a fixed  period  for  repayment,  and  often  stipulate  for  interest 
to  be  paid  on  overdue  accounts.  There  was  very  little  lending  for 
the  sake  of  the  interest.  Most  loans  were  punctually  repaid.  It  is 
probable  that  the  borrowers,  if  not  all  citizens,  had  a customary 
right  to  borrow  of  the  temple  in  time  of  need.  It  was  a form  of 
collective  charity.  When  interest  was  charged  the  loan  was  usually 
covered  by  a pledge,  the  use  of  which  was  a set  off  against  the 
interest. 

The  steward  of  the  temple  had,  of  course,  to  account  for  all 
that  he  allowed  out,  and  these  tablets  may  be  regarded  as  his  vouchers 
for  expenditure  and  also  as  receipts  on  the  part  of  the  receivers.  The 
tablet  itself,  however,  rarely  enlightens  us  beyond  the  mere  state- 
ment that  “A  has  received  something  from  B.”  Whether  we  are  to 
suppose  A had  a right  to  receive  it,  or  had  to  return  it,  we  do  not 
know.  The  word  shubati  means  “he  has  taken,”  and  it  is  not  un- 
common to  speak  of  these  tablets  as  shubati  tablets.  It  is  convenient 
to  do  so,  because  they  do  not  tell  us  whether  these  advances  were 
really  loans  or  payments  of  dues.  It  was  sufficient  for  the  steward’s 
purpose  to  show  that  A had  his  goods,  and  the  temple  auditor  would 
know  if  the  payment  was  in  order.  It  may  be  that  a donor  to  the 

18 


temple  would  expect  a receipt  for  his  gift,  but  we  should  not  expect 
to  find  such  receipts  in  the  temple  archives,  but  rather  in  the  donor’s 
deed  chest.  There  may  be  a few  such.  A gift  was  often  accom- 
panied by  a note  to  say  who  sent  it,  even  when  presented  in  person, 
with  or  without  some  prayer  or  pious  wish  that  the  god  would  regard 
with  favor  the  donor  or  some  one  dear  to  him.  Many  such  notes, 
sometimes  also  the  gifts,  in  precious  stones  or  other  imperishable  ob- 
jects, have  been  preserved  and  the  notes  asking  for  life  or  prosperity 
for  the  donor  or  his  lord  and  master.  Such  are  called  votive  offer- 
ings or  tablets. 

The  steward  drew  up  most  elaborate  and  exhaustive  accounts. 
Besides  lists  of  rations  in  food,  drink  or  clothing,  he  kept  wool  ac- 
counts, skin  and  cloth  accounts.  These  record  quantities  served  out 
to  weavers,  leather  cutters,  or  tailors  to  be  worked  up  and  returned 
as  manufactured  articles.  Sometimes  the  receiver  gave  a receipt  for 
such  goods,  explicitly  promising  to  return  specified  garments  or  other 
articles.  The  work  was  sometimes  paid  for  by  the  temple,  sometimes 
the  work  was  service  due.  The  steward’s  lists  usually  were  less 
explicit,  merely  stating  who  had  the  goods  and  how  much. 

The  temple  possessed  large  numbers  of  oxen,  sheep  and  goats, 
of  all  ages,  sexes  and  conditions.  Being  an  eminently  pastoral  folk, 
the  Babylonians  had,  like  the  Arabs,  a bewildering  variety  of  names 
for  what  we  have  to  render  simply  by  ox,  sheep  or  goat.  The  herds 
were  annually  entrusted  to  herdmen,  the  flocks  to  shepherds,  who 
took  them  out  to  pasture  beyond  the  town  fields.  These  men  were 
responsible  for  the  safe  custody  of  the  animals,  for  proper  breeding 
and  care  of  the  increase,  and  thus  bore  to  the  temple  steward  the 
same  relation  as  Jacob  did  to  Laban  in  the  Bible  story.  To  secure 
himself,  the  steward  drew  up  lists  of  the  cattle  confided  to  each 
shepherd,  and  sometimes  exacted  of  the  shepherd  a sealed  and  signed 
agreement  to  return  them,  setting  forth  all  particulars.  There  might 
be  losses  by  accident,  lions  or  wolves,  or  “the  act  of  God.”  Also 
the  shepherd  could  deduct  some  for  his  hire,  thus  like  Jacob  acquiring 
a flock  of  his  own.  The  royal  tax-collector  might  make  abstraction 
of  some  cattle  for  regular  dues  or  extraordinary  demands,  usually  on 
a pro  rata  system.  As  a rule,  however,  temple  property  was  exempt 
from  royal  exactions.  All  gains  and  losses  the  temple  steward  en- 
tered in  his  accounts. 

The  temple  existed  for  public  benefit  as  well  as  for  its  own 


19 


aggrandizement.  It  had  to  redeem  a citizen  from  the  hands  of  the 
enemy;  it  had  to  entertain  strangers,  especially  worshipers  from 
afar,  the  royal  messengers  from  other  cities,  or  foreign  rulers  who 
visited  the  city.  We  have  many  of  the  steward’s  lists  of  these  ex- 
traordinary expenditures,  which  seem  to  have  been  of  considerable 
extent.  Expenditure  for  wages  to  workmen  on  repairs,  enlarge- 
ments or  improvements,  was  duly  entered.  Accounts  were  kept 
written  up  and  dated  as  often  as  once  a month. 

What  the  temple  steward  did  on  a large  scale  every  head  of  a 
family  did  on  a smaller.  Especially  business  firms  kept  all  sorts 
of  accounts.  They  kept  all  their  accounts,  bonds,  memoranda,  letters 
— in  fact,  it  seems  every  scrap  of  writing — in  great  urns  or  pots  sunk 
in  the  ground.  Native  diggers,  especially,  find  these  private  collec- 
tions, usually  only  just  below  the  surface. 

Considerable  interest  attaches  to  the  many  labels  or  tickets, 
which  have  been  called  “bullae”  from  their  resemblance  to  the  bulla 
attached  to  legal  documents  in  the  Middle  Ages;  whence  the  title 
of  Papal  “Bulls”  given  to  such  documents  up  to  the  present.  The 
name  serves  as  a distinction  for  the  sort  of  object,  but  is  entirely 
misleading  in  its  suggestions.  Lumps  of  clay  were  impressed  on  the 
knot  of  a cord  tying  up  a sack  or  bale  of  goods,  or  on  the  sack  or 
wrapping  itself.  The  name  of  the  sender,  addressee,  sometimes  a 
statement  of  the  contents,  even  a date,  might  be  inscribed.  An  ani- 
mal might  have  a similar  label  tied  round  its  neck  by  a string  when 
entrusted  to  some  shepherd.  Slaves  wore  similar  tickets  with  their 
name  and  that  of  their  owner.  This  was  easily  made  away  with, 
but  a slave  who  thus  rebelled  was  branded  or  tattooed  with  an 
irradicable  mark.  It  is  difficult  to  be  sure  in  many  cases  of  the  real 
purpose  of  these  objects,  which  are  often  so  rubbed  as  to  be  illegible, 
and  not  much  information  is  to  be  obtained  from  them.  They  are 
little  more  use  to  us  than  would  be  a collection  of  labels  or  tickets 
from  goods  now.  These  collections  have  some  interesting  examples, 
either  for  early  date  or  fine  preservation. 

The  first  dynasty  of  Babylon  has  attained  celebrity  in  modern 
times  chiefly  by  the  interest  attaching  to  the  sixth  king,  Hammurabi, 
from  his  widely  accepted  identification  with  Amraphel  of  Genesis 
xiv.  He  deserves  even  more  renown  for  his  celebrated  Code  of 
Laws,  the  earliest  of  which  we  have  any  full  information,  and  its 
derived  interest  from  comparison  with  the  Mosaic  Code,  This  was 


20 


the  crowning  glory  of  De  Morgan’s  explorations  at  Susa,  the  Shushan 
of  the  book  of  Esther.  The  tablets  of  this  period  nearly  all  come 
from  Sippara,  usually  identified  with  the  Biblical  Sepharvaim.  Prof. 
V.  Scheil  excavated  there  for  the  Turkish  Government  in  1893-94,  but 
the  natives  have  from  time  to  time  unearthed  thousands  of  tablets 
at  its  modern  site,  Abu  Habba.  In  fact,  in  this  period,  Sippara  seems 
to  have  been  the  predominant  city  of  Babylonia  and  Babylon  merely 
the  seat  of  government.  Most  of  these  tablets  appear  to  be  of  private 
interest  and  can  hardly  have  formed  part  of  a public  archive,  unless 
it  was  the  custom  for  private  persons  to  deposit  a copy  of  their  deeds 
in  the  temple.  Many  relate  to  temple  officials,  and  very  many  to 
those  vestal  virgins,  as  we  may  call  them,  who  were  vowed  to  vir- 
ginity, yet  could  marry,  and  usually  lived  in  Gagia,  the  great  convent 
of  these  Shamash  votaries  at  Sippara.  The  tablets  relate  to  all  sorts 
of  transactions,  covering  every  kind  of  transfer  of  property.  They 
are  deeply  interesting  for  the  light  they  throw  on  customs  at  this 
period.  The  ruling  dynasty  were  of  foreign  extraction,  perhaps  best 
called  Amorites,  without  necessarily  implying  affinity  with  the  Bib- 
lical Amorites  of  Palestine.  There  are  many  Amorite  names  on  the 
tablets  implying  racial  affinities  with  the  old  South  Arabians.  The 
date  lists  for  this  period  are  in  an  advanced  state  of  perfection,  and 
the  year  of  the  king’s  reign  can  usually  be  given,  but  there  are  many 
new  year-names,  every  one  of  which  is  a gain  to  knowledge.  On  the 
whole  period  the  writer  may  be  allowed  to  refer  to  his  Babylonian 
and  Assyrian  Laws , Contracts  and  Letters  (Scribner’s  Sons,  New 
York,  1904). 

The  religious  texts  are  of  the  deepest  interest  and  will  be  noted 
in  detail  later.  The  historical  texts  deserve  separate  notice.  There 
are  many  others  of  various  epochs,  which  are  better  treated  indi- 
vidually. All  in  all,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a collection  of  the  same 
size  with  more  varied  and  interesting  contents. 

MYTHOLOGICAL  TEXTS 

DELUGE  STORY 

When  George  Smith,  in  1872,  announced  in  the  Daily  Tele- 
graph of  August  3d  that  he  had  discovered  among  the  tablets  in  the 
British  Museum,  brought  by  Sir  H.  Layard  from  Nineveh,  some 


21 


fragments  of  the  Babylonian  account  of  the  Deluge,  enthusiasm 
knew  no  bounds,  and  the  Daily  Telegraph  placed  one  thousand 
guineas  at  his  disposal  to  proceed  to  Nineveh  and  procure  more. 
He  published  in  his  Chaldean  Genesis  (London,  1875),  a remark- 
ably successful  account  of  all  the  fragments  then  recognized,  and  in 
1884  Prof.  P.  Haupt  produced  his  edition  of  the  Nimrod-Epos,  in 
which  were  collected  all  the  fragments  known.  Nothing  has  been 
added  since  to  what  may  be  called  the  Ninevite  version.  Its  likeness 
and  contrast  to  the  Biblical  versions  have  been  discussed  ever  since 
in  numberless  publications.  It  was  known  that  Berosus,  the  Greek 
writing  priest  of  Babylon,  about  B.  C.  280,  had  preserved  a somewhat 
different  version.  Great  was  the  surprise  and  delight  when  Professor 
Scheil  published  a fragment  of  a version  dating  from  the  eleventh 
year  of  Ammizaduga,  last  king  but  one  of  the  first  dynasty  of  Baby- 
lon, fully  a thousand  years  earlier  than  any  of  the  hitherto  known 
texts.  It  presents  what  has  been  called  the  Sippara  version,  and  was 
published  by  Scheil  in  Recueil  de  Travaux,  vol.  xx.,  p.  55  ff.  It  is 
now  marked  M.  135. 


ETANA  MYTH 

The  legend  of  Etana,  who  was  carried  up  to  heaven  on  the  back 
of  an  eagle,  is  of  great  interest,  apart  from  the  suggestion  that  he  is 
the  Ethan  of  I.  Kings  iv.,  31,  whose  wisdom  was  excelled  by  that 
of  Solomon,  and  the  likeness  of  the  story  to  that  of  Elijah.  For  it  is 
closely  connected  with  the  story  of  “the  snake  and  the  eagle”  and 
that  of  “the  storm  bird,  Zu.”  The  fragments  from  Nineveh  were 
published  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Harper  in  the  Beitrage  zur  Assyriologie  (vol. 
ii.,  p.  439  ff.).  Professor  Scheil  published  in  Recueil  de  Travaux 
(vol.  xxiii.,  p.  18  ff.)  a fragment  probably  from  Senkereh,  earlier 
than  the  first  dynasty  of  Babylon.  Both  from  its  extreme  age  and 
from  the  interest  of  its  subject,  this  unique  tablet  is  of  priceless  worth. 
It  is  now  M.  130.  The  subject  is  represented  on  several  fine  cylinder 
seals  in  the  British  Museum,  the  Louvre  and  elsewhere. 

In  the  legend  of  the  descent  of  Ishtar  to  Hades  a hero  called 
Uddushunamir  is  mentioned.  Professor  Scheil  published  in  the 
Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xx.,  p.  83)  a fragment  of  a mythological 
tablet  from  Sippara,  which  mentioned  a patesi  called  Uddushunamir, 
among  other  patesis  called  Udduarukali,  Zakira,  Belidlina  and 


22 


Gimil-Ninib.  They  may  all  have  been  ancient  rulers  of  Babylonia, 
whom  popular  tradition  regarded  as  heroes  and  set  to  guard  the  gates 
of  Hades.  The  fragment  is  valuable  as  containing  a hint  which 
awaits  confirmation  from  other  sources.  It  is  now  marked  M.  129. 


LEGEND  OF  KUTHA 

The  legend  of  Kutha  has  possibly  an  historical  foundation,  but 
is  worked  up  with  many  poetic  and  mythical  accessories.  It  tells  how 
a king  of  the  early  times  was  beset  by  an  enemy,  led  by  seven  brethren. 
Three  years  he  sent  out  his  forces,  first  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand,  then  ninety  thousand,  then  sixty  thousand  seven  hundred, 
but  not  one  of  them  ever  came  back.  At  last,  by  the  help  of  the 
gods,  the  king  triumphed.  It  may  echo  some  memory  of  a barbaric 
invasion,  but  while  fragments  were  preserved  in  the  Nineveh  Library, 
the  fragment  edited  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the  Recueil  de  Travaux 
(vol.  xx.,  p.  65  f.)  dates  from  the  time  of  Sargon  I.,  about  3800 
B.  C.  This  fragment  is  now  M.  128. 


STORY  OF  ADAPA 

The  Ninevite  versions  of  most  of  these  legends  were  preserved 
in  the  library  of  Ashurbanipal,  king  of  Assyria,  B.  C.  668-626,  and 
are  nearly  all  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is  excessively  rare  to  find 
a fragment  of  them  elsewhere.  The  story  of  Adapa,  a semi-divine 
hero,  who  broke  the  wings  of  the  South-wind  for  spoiling  his  fishing 
and  was  summoned  to  heaven  for  judgment,  where  he  narrowly  es- 
caped being  made  an  immortal,  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  these 
stories.  Professor  Scheil  published  a fragment  of  it  from  Nineveh  in 
the  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xx.,  127),  and  this  seems  to  identify 
Adapa  with  the  mythical  king  Adaparos,  who  reigned  before  the 
flood,  according  to  Berossus.  Part  of  his  history  is  written  on  one 
of  the  celebrated  Tell  el  Amarna  tablets,  and  was  studied  by  those 
Egyptians  who,  under  Amenophis  IV.,  had  to  correspond  with  the 
kings  and  rulers  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  in  Babylonian  language  and 
writing.  The  fragment  published  by  Scheil  is  now  M.  144. 


23 


INCANTATION* 

Of  the  greatest  interest  is  M.  66,  an  incantation  text,  of  very 
early  date,  possibly  used  as  an  amulet  to  ward  off  demons.  It  is 
unpublished,  but  a most  interesting  variety.  It  is  inscribed  on  stone, 
not  clay. 


OMENS 

A text  connected  with  omens  is  N.  215,  unpublished  and  un- 
fortunately only  a fragment,  but  earlier  than  those  already  known 
by  many  centuries. 


NISABA 

An  invocation  to  the  goddess  Nisaba,  goddess  of  agriculture, 
M.  67,  was  inscribed  on  the  edge  of  a bowl.  The  piece  has  broken 
off  and  fortunately  gives  a practically  complete  text,  which  was  pub- 
lished by  Professor  Scheil  in  the  Orientalistische  Litteraturzeitung 
(vol.  vii.,  p.  254  f.).  Nisaba  is  here  invoked  as  the  goddess  of 
fertility  with  seven  wombs,  seven  breasts,  and  as  goddess  of  literature 
(?)  with  eighteen  ears.  She  is  also  called  the  scribe  of  Anu  and 
sister  of  Ellil.  It  is  curious  to  find  the  association  of  agriculture 
with  letters  in  the  person  of  a mother  goddess. 

Another  fragment  of  some  as  yet  unrecognized  legend  exists  as 
M.  13 1,  and  awaits  publication. 

These  legends  form  part  of  a literature  which,  as  is  now  grad- 
ually being  recognized,  was  known  and  read  from  Elam  to  Cilicia, 
from  Syria  to  Egypt,  and  its  influence  is  to  be  traced  in  the  Bible 
and  probably  also  in  early  Greek  mythology.  Every  fragment  re- 
covered is  therefore  a unique  treasure.  It  may  explain  so  much  now 
obscure  to  us. 


GEOGRAPHY 

The  tablets  which  come  from  Telloh  continually  name  cities 
and  places  in  the  neighborhood,  some  of  which  were  in  existence  cen- 
turies later.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  collect  these  geo- 
graphical references,  from  which  in  time  we  may  map  out  lower 


*It  was  published  by  V.  Brummer  in  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxviii.,  p.  216). 

24 


Babylonia,  for  the  third  millennium  B.  C.  In  M.  68  we  have  a list 
of  more  than  fifty  towns,  with  amounts  of  money,  a shekel  or  so,  set 
down  for  each.  The  amount  seems  small,  but  perhaps  it  merely 
marked  relative  liability  to  tax  or  rate  for  some  purpose.  The  text 
seems  to  be  of  the  first  dynasty  of  Babylon,  but  came  from  Telloh, 
and  was  published  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the  Re  cue'll  de  Travaux  (vol. 
xx.,  p.  68  f.). 

One  of  these  ancient  cities  was  fixed  by  Professor  Scheil  as 
having  been  on  the  site  where  now  stands  the  village  Jocha,  to  the 
west  of  Wasit  el-Hai,  in  the  El-Batajeh  in  Irak.  The  ancient  city  was 
called  Uch,  and  its  name  used  to  be  read  Gishban,  while  its  site  was 
sought  as  far  away  as  Haran.  The  means  of  this  fortunate  discovery 
were  the  tablets  M.  70  and  M.  71,  found  at  Jocha  by  Scheil,  in  April, 
1894.  They  were  published  in  the  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xix., 
p.  62  fE.),  give  the  name  of  the  patesi  of  Uch  as  Urbilku,  and  are 
probably  of  the  fifth  or  sixth  Telloh  epoch. 


ARCHAIC  TABLETS 

The  fine  collection  N.  69-110  embraces  tablets  of  the  very  early 
Pre-Sargonic  period  of  Lugalanda  and  Urukagina,  rulers  of  Telloh. 
Of  the  nature  of  temple  records,  they  give  the  names  of  scores  of 
people,  important  in  their  day  as  rulers,  patesis,  etc.  Of  great  interest 
is  the  frequent  mention  of  the  wives  of  these  rulers,  whose  names  form 
a welcome  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  the  lot  of  women  then.  The 
tablets  are  beautiful  specimens  of  exquisitely  fine  writing. 

The  celebrated  patesi,  Gudea,  whose  diorite  statues  adorn  the 
Louvre  and  whose  power  was  little  short  of  that  of  the  mightiest 
kings,  a great  builder  and  adorner  of  Telloh,  but  a loyal  subject  of 
Dungi,  king  of  Ur,  is  known  chiefly  by  the  palaces  and  temples  which 
beautified  his  city  of  Telloh.  He  has  left  almost  endless  inscriptions, 
published  in  Decouvertes  en  Chaldee , and  most  recently  translated 
by  Prof.  Thureau  Dangin  in  Les  Inscriptions  de  Sumer  et  d3 Akkad 
(Leroux,  Paris,  1905).  It  is  interesting,  therefore,  to  find  him  inci- 
dentally mentioned  in  M.  12 1,  probably  as  a donor  of  offerings  of 
food  and  drink,  on  the  festival  of  Dungi,  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
month  called  the  Feast  of  Dungi.  Telloh  tablets  were  dated  both 


25 


by  the  years  of  Gudea’s  reign  and  by  those  of  his  sovereign,  Dungi; 
M.  88  uses  both  systems.  The  year  of  Dungi  is  probably  the  forty- 
sixth,  but  those  of  Gudea  are  not  yet  fixed  in  order.  This  will  form 
a valuable  help  to  the  synchronism  of  the  reigns. 

The  dynasty  of  Ur,  with  which  Gudea’s  reign  was  contemporary, 
began  with  the  great  king  Ur-Engur  and  lasted  one  hundred  and 
seventeen  years.  The  kings  are  here  given  in  order  with  the  lengths 
of  their  reigns.  The  period  is  that  of  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
periods  of  Telloh. 

Ur-Engur  reigned  18  years. 

Dungi,  his  son,  reigned  58  years. 

Bur-Sin,  his  son,  reigned  9 years. 

Gimil-Sin,  his  son,  reigned  7 years. 

Ibi-Sin,  his  son,  reigned  25  years. 

This  dynasty  is  represented  by  twenty-seven  tablets,  of  which 
thirteen  are  to  be  assigned  to  the  reign  of  Dungi,  eight  to  Bur-Sin  and 
six  to  Gimil-Sin.  One  other  tablet,  certainly  of  this  period,  dated 
in  “the  year  the  temple  of  Engur  was  built,”  is  not  yet  to  be  assigned 
its  place  in  the  above  dynasty,  N.  46. 

The  patesi  Eannatum  reigned  at  a very  early  date,  but  he  is 
mentioned  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  Ammiditana  on  N.  218. 


NEW  AND  RARE  KINGS 


In  the  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxiv.,  p.  25  ff.)  Professor 
Scheil  published  the  names  of  several  new  rulers  or  kings,  whose 
place  in  the  dynasties  has  not  been  determined. 

The  king  whose  name  is  written  an-a-an,  and  read  variously, 
perhaps  best  as  Huma,  was  identified  with  a somewhat  similarly 
named  king  of  the  so-called  second  dynasty  of  Babylon,  and  also  with 
others.  It  is  possible  that  he  was  a contemporary  of  Sumulailu, 
second  king  of  the  first  dynasty  of  Babylon,  and  that  he  ruled  over 
the  “Lealand.”  See  Professor  Hilprecht’s  Introduction  to  the  twen- 
tieth volume  of  Series  A of  the  Babylonian  Expedition  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  (p.  56  b.).  This  king  is  only  known  with 

26 


certainty  from  a tablet  in  the  Louvre  still  unpublished,  from  M.  89 
and  M.  126.  They  were  published  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the 
Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxiv.,  p.  25). 

The  king  whose  name  has  been  read  gir-ne-ne,  Aradshagshag, 
etc.,  is  only  known  from  an  unedited  tablet  in  the  Louvre  and  M.  127. 
It  is  as  yet  impossible  to  place  him.  Published  as  above. 

The  king  Siniribam  is  known  only  from  M.  125,  published  by 
Professor  Scheil  as  above,  and  again  in  Orientalistische  Litteratur- 
zeitung  (vol.  viii.,  p.  350  f.).  It  is  as  yet  impossible  to  place  him. 

The  king  Ammikinabi  is  only  known  from  N.  49,  which  is  still 
unpublished.  It  is  impossible  to  place  him. 

The  king  Rim-Anum  was  first  made  known  by  Professor  Sayce 
in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical  Archeology , 1897,  P-  73- 
Then  Professor  Scheil  found  several  tablets  dated  in  his  reign  in  the 
Museum  at  Constantinople,  and  published  M.  124  in  the  Recueil  de 
Travaux  (vol.  xx.,  p.  64).  He  claims  here,  as  in  the  fourth  vol- 
ume of  Rawlinson’s  Inscriptions  of  Western  Asia,  pi.  35,  No.  8,  to  be 
king  of  a wide  empire,  naming  Emutbal,  Isin,  Suri,  Dupliash,  Ashurn 
as  subject  lands.  This  is  important  for  history,  if  correctly  read. 

The  kings  of  Ur  reigned  over  Susa,  as  is  shown  by  the  votive 
tablets  of  Dungi  found  there,  and  during  this  period  Susa  was  ruled, 
like  Telloh,  by  patesis.  Intercourse  between  the  cities  was  frequent, 
and  we  read  of  ships  of  corn  going  from  Telloh  to  Susa,  or  vice  versa. 
In  M.  103  we  read  of  the  patesi  Beliaurugal  of  Susa  who  came  to 
Telloh.  Six  ships  laden  with  corn  from  Susa  are  mentioned  in  M.  78. 

Rim-Sin,  son  of  Kudur-Mabug,  ruler  of  Emutbal,  Elamite  king 
of  Larsa,  usually  identified  with  Arisch  of  Ellasar  in  Genesis  xiv.,  is 
represented  by  one  tablet,  probably  dated  in  his  reign,  N.  232. 

One  tablet,  N.  163,  is  dated  by  a year-name  not  yet  to  be  found 
in  the  year  lists  or  chronicle  if  the  writer  is  not  mistaken;  it  repre- 
sents some  new  dynasty,  but  where  it  was  located  is  not  clear. 

The  Sippara  tablets  are  nearly  all  from  the  period  of  the  first 
dynasty  of  Babylon,  when  the  city  was  evidently  at  the  zenith  of  its 
power  and  prosperity.  A list  of  the  kings  of  this  dynasty,  with  the 
lengths  of  their  reigns,  may  be  of  interest  to  the  reader: 

Sumuabu,  14  years. 

Sumulailu,  36  years. 

Zabum,  his  son,  14  years. 


27 


Apil-Sin,  his  son,  18  years. 

Sinmuballit,  his  son,  20  years. 

Hammurabi,  his  son,  43  years. 

Samsuiluna,  his  son,  38  years. 

Abeshu,  his  son,  28  years. 

Ammiditana,  his  son,  37  years. 

Ammizaduga,  his  son,  22  years. 

Samsuditana,  his  son,  31  years. 

While  Sumuabu  founded  the  dynasty,  he  seems  not  to  have 
been  succeeded  by  a son.  The  chronicle  of  the  dynasty,  see  especially 
Mr.  L.  W.  King’s  Letters  and  Inscriptions  of  Hammurabi  (3  vols., 
Luzac  & Co.,  London),  vol.  iii.,  pp.  212-253,  is  complete  for  his 
reign,  but,  with  one  exception,  no  tablet  dated  in  his  reign  is  known. 

Tablets  dating  from  the  reign  of  Sumulailu  and  already  pub- 
lished number  fifteen,  but  only  one  gives  the  year  of  the  reign.  Col- 
lection N.  adds  three  tablets  dated  in  the  sixth,  nineteenth  and  twenty- 
third  years — three  times  as  many  as  known  before. 

The  third  king,  Zabum,  is  represented  by  thirty  tablets  already 
published.  Collection  N.  includes  two  more  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  years. 

Apil-Sin  is  represented  by  twenty-eight  tablets  published,  only 
five  of  which  are  dated  by  years  of  his  reign.  N.  has  one  more. 

Sinmuballit  is  better  known,  fifty-two  tablets  being  published. 
Here  are  three  more  dated  in  his  second,  sixth  and  fourteenth  years. 

Tablets  from  the  reign  of  Hammurabi  are  always  eagerly  sought 
after,  and  quite  one  hundred  and  forty  are  already  published,  nearly 
all  dated  by  the  years  of  his  reign.  N.  225  is  one  more  of  the  four- 
teenth year. 

Samsuiluna  is  known  from  about  as  many  published  tablets. 
N.  187  is  dated  in  his  seventh  year. 

Abeshu  is  hitherto  represented  by  only  thirty-five  tablets,  and  the 
chronicle  is  so  defective  that  it  has  hitherto  been  impossible  to  place 
the  dates  in  order.  Here  are  seven  more  tablets,  one  dated  in  the  last 
year  of  his  reign. 

Ammiditana  is  known  from  some  one  hundred  and  thirty  pub- 
lished tablets.  Here  are  forty-seven  more,  a quarter  of  all  known, 
dated  in  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  eleventh,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  six- 
teenth, eighteenth,  nineteenth,  twentieth,  twenty-first,  twenty-fourth, 

28 


twenty-fifth,  twenty-seventh,  twenty-eighth,  twenty-ninth,  thirty-first, 
thirty-second,  thirty-third,  thirty-fourth,  thirty-fifth,  thirty-sixth  and 
thirty-seventh  years. 

Ammizaduga  is  represented  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  pub- 
lished tablets,  but  here  are  forty-two  more,  adding  another  quarter. 
The  chronicle  has  lately  been  extended  to  his  seventeenth  year,  and 
here  are  tablets  dated  in  every  known  year  but  the  tenth. 

The  last  king,  Samsuditana,  is  already  known  from  twenty-four 
published  tablets.  This  collection  adds  nine  more,  another  quarter. 
As  the  chronicle  is  defective  for  this  reign,  we  can  not  place  them  in 
proper  order,  but  they  make  important  contributions  to  fixing  it. 

In  all  there  are  one  hundred  and  sixteen  dated  tablets  of  this 
period,  sixty  of  them  being  fresh  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
history.  There  are  examples  of  every  reign  except  the  first. 

The  contents  of  the  tablets  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  same  as 
those  already  published,  with,  of  course,  different  parties  and  many 
interesting  variations  in  detail.  They  are  all  as  yet  unpublished. 
Some  open  up  fresh  subjects,  e.  g.,  the  very  interesting  agreements 
on  the  part  of  shepherds  or  herdsmen  entrusted  with  flocks  or  herds. 
The  Code  of  Hammurabi  dealt  with  the  subject,  Sections  262-267,  but 
little  illustration  has  yet  been  available  from  the  practice  of  the 
period.  These  serve  to  explain  and  confirm  the  Code. 

Here  we  find  what  seems  to  be  the  earliest  reference  to  the 
horse,  in  the  tablets  N.  252,  253,  where  the  name  Shasisi  occurs. 
We  may  render  it,  if  rightly  read,  “horsey,”  like  the  Greek  Philippus. 
It  is  possible,  however,  that  it  is  not  a proper  name,  but  only  an 
entry  in  a list  of  proper  names,  of  so  much  “corn  for  the  horses.” 
Either  way,  the  mention  of  the  horse  is  carried  back  centuries  by  this 
reference. 

Other  proper  names  of  great  interest  occur,  such  as  compounds  of 
Lagamar,  so  famous  in  the  discussions  of  the  Elamite  name  Kudur- 
Lagamar,  the  Biblical  Chedorlaomer,  and  compounds  of  Ian,  which 
were  so  much  discussed  in  the  controversy  raised  by  Professor 
Delitzsch’s  lectures  on  Babel  und  Bibel.  The  so-called  Amorite 
names  occur  in  plenty.  In  fact  scarcely  one  of  these  Sippara  tablets 
is  without  some  point  of  interest  for  the  student. 


29 


CASE  TABLETS 


It  was  usual  to  inclose  the  more  important  documents  in  an 
envelope.  This  was  made  of  a thin  sheet  of  clay,  which  was  wrapped 
round  the  tablet  and  pinched  together  at  the  corners.  Good  ex- 
amples of  such  envelopes  are  N.  44,  which  is  the  envelope  of  N.  47, 
and  N.  25,  which  is  part  of  the  envelope  of  N.  10. 

In  case  of  any  dispute  the  tablet  had  to  be  produced  in  the  court 
of  law.  If  it  was  broken,  or  had  been  tampered  with,  the  judge 
might  rule  it  was  defective  evidence  and  the  additional  expense  of 
summoning  and  examining  witnesses  would  have  to  be  borne.  To 
reduce  the  risk  the  substance  of  the  inner  document  was  indicated 
on  the  envelope,  often  a complete  duplicate  of  it  was  written  out. 
N.  44,  however,  merely  reads,  “the  bond  (sealed  tablet)  for  one 
cow,  one  year  old,  which  belongs  to  Ahuni,  son  of  Awil-Nabium  the 
cowherd.”  N.  47,  which  was  once  enclosed  in  it,  is  the  deed  of 
sale  of  one  cow  one  year  old  by  Ahuni,  son  of  Awil-Nabium,  to 
Licvir-Babili,  son  of  Acvil-Ishtar,  for  one  and  one-half  shekel  of 
silver,  with  one-twelfth  of  a shekel  as  earnest  money.  It  is  witnessed 
by  three  witnesses  and  dated  the  twenty-eighth  of  the  seventh  month 
of  the  second  year  of  Ammizaduga. 

If  the  inner  tablet  had  been  left  exposed,  although  it  was  baked, 
a dishonest  man  might  alter  it.  But  once  enclosed  in  its  envelope, 
he  could  not  do  so,  without  signs  of  having  done  it.  To  avoid  his 
putting  on  another  envelope,  the  parties  not  only  impressed  their 
seals,  but  often  ran  the  seal  over  every  part  of  it,  while  the  clay  was 
soft.  Though  the  forger  might  make  a new  envelope,  after  falsi- 
fying the  contents,  he  could  not  well  forge  the  seals,  which  were 
often  those  of  third  parties,  witnesses,  judges,  scribes  or  others  not 
likely  to  connive. 

Tablets  in  their  cases  are  not  rare.  The  native  finder  is  of 
opinion  that  these  things  contain  gold  or  precious  things,  and,  if  he 
hears  the  inside  rattle,  he  breaks  the  envelope.  Hence  few  envelopes 
find  their  way  to  Europe.  Occasionally  the  envelope  sticks  fast  to  the 
contents  and  there  is  no  temptation  to  break  it.  Unfortunately  that 
may  be  a great  injury  to  the  inner  tablet,  it  may  be  impossible  to 
remove  the  adhering  part  of  the  case,  and,  so,  many  inner  tablets  can 
not  be  entirely  read. 


30 


Of  course,  the  inner  tablet  was  baked  hard  before  it  was  put  in 
its  envelope,  which  was  then  also  baked  hard.  Occasionally  neither 
were  baked  at  all.  This  kind  naturally  rarely  gets  far  from  the 
finder’s  hands,  crumbling  to  pieces  under  his  curious  fingers,  with  all 
its  possibly  priceless  information,  perishing  now  after  centuries  of 
preservation  in  the  soil. 

Letters,  of  course,  only  bore  the  address  outside,  with  perhaps 
the  sender’s  name,  and  often  the  date.  The  envelope  was  broken 
to  read  the  letter,  and  very  few  letters  in  their  envelopes  have  been 
found  as  yet.  They  could  not  have  been  read,  perhaps  not  delivered. 

It  is  possible  that  M.  146  is  a case  tablet,  but  it  has  not  been 
opened  yet. 

LETTERS 

Great  interest  has  attached  to  the  letters  of  the  period  of  the 
first  dynasty  of  Babylon,  since  Professor  Scheil,  in  1896,  thought  he 
had  discovered  a letter  of  Hammurabi  referring  to  Chedorlaomer. 
This  proved  to  be  a mistake,  but  the  interest  aroused  was  fully  main- 
tained by  Mr.  L.  W.  King’s  Letters  and  Descriptions  of  Hammurabi, 
which  showed  with  what  minute  care  the  great  Hammurabi  and  his 
successors  looked  into  all  the  affairs  of  their  kingdom. 

' N.  26  may  be  a letter  to  the  king,  for  the  writer  says  he  has  sent 
“two  men  to  thy  presence,”  but  it  may  be  from  the  king  to  an  official. 
Unfortunately  neither  the  writer’s  name  nor  that  of  his  correspondent 
is  given.  These  would  naturally  be  on  the  envelope,  which  was 
broken  to  read  the  letter,  and  probably  thrown  away. 

N.  62  is  written  by  Ardiilishu  to  his  brother  about  Licvir-Babili 
and  Idin-Sin,  asking  his  brother’s  orders  in  the  matter. 

N.  51  is  a letter  from  Ibni-Ib  to  Aliellatti  about  a number  of 
persons  in  the  latter’s  neighborhood  who  owe  him  money.  He  sends 
an  agent  to  collect  it. 

N.  57  is  a request  from  Liburnadinshu  to  Mahritu,  his  mother, 
to  sell  two  measures  of  drink  and  “if  she  loves  him”  send  him  certain 
articles,  apparently  baskets,  but  of  unspecified  contents. 

N.  19  is  a report,  possibly  to  the  king,  but  the  writer  does  not 
give  his  name.  He  says  Risaturn  will  not  change  his  opinion.  He 
sends  the  goods  belonging  to  Belshunu,  son  of  Idin-Lagamal.  He 
bought  a cow  for  ten  shekels  of  silver:  and  so  on.  It  is  evident  here, 


3i 


as  in  most  of  the  private  letters,  that  we  can  not  understand  them  until 
we  know  more  of  the  business  relations  of  the  parties  concerned.  It 
is  only  by  the  publication  of  all  such  documents  available  that  we 
can  make  out  much  more. 

M.  133  is  very  interesting  for  its  beautiful  seal,  representing 
two  priests  or  worshipers  raising  their  hands  in  the  Babylonian  atti- 
tude of  prayer  or  adoration  toward  a symbol  of  Ishtar,  the  mother 
goddess.  She  is  here,  which  is  the  remarkable  thing,  represented  as 
a cow  suckling  her  calf,  and  turning  back  her  head  to  caress  it.  The 
representation  was  exquisitely  engraved  on  the  seal,  and  though  the 
impression  was  hurriedly  made  the  little  scene  is  very  clear.  Beneath 
is  the  usual  conventional  representation  of  the  goddess,  naked  and 
holding  her  hands  to  her  breasts.  As  Queen  of  Nineveh,  Ishtar  is 
addressed  by  Ashurbanipal  as  the  mother  who  has  suckled  him  in 
his  infancy.  The  tablet  contains  a list  of  names  of  persons  who  had 
received  dues  from  the  temple,  came  from  Sippara  and  is  of  the 
period  of  the  first  dynasty  of  Babylon.  It  was  published  by  Pro- 
fessor Scheil  in  the  Re  cue’ll  de  Travaux  (vol.  xx.,  p.  62).  The 
same  symbolism  is  found  on  the  Greek  coins  of  Corcyra  and  its 
colonies  and  on  other  Babylonian  seals. 

The  use  of  the  seal  was  not  without  its  disadvantage  for  scholars 
in  reading  the  tablets  now.  When  the  seal  was  run  up  and  down 
over  the  tablet  while  yet  soft  the  characters  formed  by  depressions  in 
the  clay  became  closed  up  and  lost  their  characteristic  features.  It  is 
usual  to  say  that  at  no  period  were  tablets  so  badly  written  or  signs 
so  carelessly  formed.  It  is  very  commonly  the  case  at  this  period  that 
a seal  bore  only  the  name  of  its  owner,  stating  whose  son  he  was  and 
which  god  he  worshiped.  As  seals  probably  also  served  as  amulets 
this  would  identify  the  owner  as  under  that  god’s  protection,  but  it 
may  have  had  the  more  mundane  purpose  of  marking  him  as  a member 
of  a particular  congregation.  The  exact  relation  of  groups  worship- 
ing different  gods  has  not  yet  been  fully  worked  out.  Such  a seal 
is  often  of  great  assistance  in  reading  the  blurred  names  in  the 
text  itself. 

A more  elaborate  sort  of  seal  depicted  some  scene  from  myth- 
ology, or  a worshiper  introduced  into  the  presence  of  some  god, 
or  some  ornamental  design.  This  might  have  the  owner’s  name  as 
before  or  not.  The  seals  were  cylinder  shaped  with  a hole  drilled 
down  the  center,  and  ran  in  a setting  which  made  them  not  unlike 


32 


a garden  roller.  On  some  tablets  the  marks  of  this  metal  mounting 
can  plainly  be  seen,  as  in  N.  29.  M.  3 has  an  interesting  seal  repre- 
senting a single  standing  figure  wearing  a peculiar  cap.  N.  20  is  a 
seal  impression  and  nothing  else.  Why  it  was  done  and  what  pur- 
pose it  served  it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  it  is  a very  fine  specimen. 
Perhaps  the  lump  of  clay  was  a label  on  a bale  of  goods  or  the  like. 
The  seal  impression  on  M.  96  is  worth  remarking. 

The  so-called  bullae  N.  206-210  have  a very  fine  seal.  N.  211 
is  also  a sealed  bulla.  N.  212  is  a mere  cake  of  bitumen  used  to  stop 
a bottle  or  jar  and  bears  a seal  impression  which  is  probably  late. 

Several  other  tablets  have  seal  impressions  now  much  defaced. 

HISTORICAL  INSCRIPTIONS  FROM  ASSYRIA,  ETC. 

The  German  explorations  conducted  at  the  old  capital  of 
Assyria,  the  last  four  years,  have  made  known  the  names  of  many 
early  rulers  of  Assyria,  kings  or  patesis  of  Asshur.  One  of  the  earliest 
of  these,  Uspia,  was  first  made  known  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the 
Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxii.,  p.  155  f.),  who  there  published  a 
fragment  of  an  inscription  from  Kalat  Shergat,  the  modern  site  of 
Asshur.  It  also  names  Erishum,  another  early  ruler,  and  is  now 
M.  138. 

M.  139  is  part  of  the  annals  of  Arikdenili,  a very  early  king 
of  Assyria,  which  was  published  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the  Orienta- 
listische  Litteraturzeitung  (vol.  vii.,  p.  216  f.)  It  is  of  considerable 
historic  value,  but  very  fragmentary. 

M.  140,  142,  143  are  fragments  of  inscriptions  of  Assyrian 
kings,  as  yet  unpublished,  but  too  little  is  preserved  to  identify  them 
with  certainty. 

M.  134  is  part  of  a Semitic  inscription  mentioning  Samsuiluna, 
son  and  successor  of  the  great  Hammurabi,  but  in  too  fragmentary  a 
fashion  for  much  to  be  made  out  of  it.  Subsequent  discoveries  will 
probably  clear  it  up.  It  has  not  yet  been  published. 

M.  137  contains  a votive  inscription  of  Kurigalzu,  king  of  Ur, 
probably  from  a door  socket  or  bowl.  It  was  published  by  Professor 
Scheil  in  the  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxiii.,  p.  133),  and  though 
so  short  is  of  historic  value  as  showing  the  extent  of  the  Kassite  rule. 

When  Ashurbanipal  succeeded  Esarhaddon  on  the  throne  of 
Assyria,  his  brother  Shamashshumakin,  the  Saosduchinos  of  the 


33 


Greeks,  was  installed  as  subject  king  of  Babylon.  The  exact  extent 
of  his  kingdom  has  been  disputed,  but  M.  146,  a bond  for  twelve 
shekels  of  silver,  dated  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  reign,  at  Nagiti, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates,  shows  that  he  held  part  of  Southern 
Babylonia.  It  was  published  by  Professor  Scheil  in  the  Recueil  de 
Travaux  (vol.  xxiv.,  p.  28).  It  is  remarkable  for  its  beautiful 
writing. 

Very  little  was  known  of  Sinshariskkun,  the  Saracus  of  the 
Greeks,  save  that  he  was  the  last  king  of  Nineveh,  who  perished  in 
the  fall  of  his  city,  about  B.  C.  606.  It  was  with  feelings  of  great 
satisfaction,  therefore,  that  Professor  Scheil  published  in  the  Zeit- 
schrift  fur  Assyriologie  (vol.  xi.,  p.  47  ff.),  the  fragment  M.  149  of  a 
charter  of  this  king,  in  which  he  calls  himself  son  of  Ashurbanipal 
and  grandson  of  Sennacherib.  He,  therefore,  succeeded  his  brother 
Ashuretilitani  on  the  throne.  Only  sufficient  is  left  of  the  tablet  to 
discern  its  general  purpose. 

CONTRACTS  FROM  ASSYRIA 

The  vast  majority  of  the  Assyrian  tablets  come  from  Nineveh 
and  are  in  the  British  Museum.  The  deeds  and  documents  relating 
to  the  transfer  of  property,  commonly  but  loosely  called  “contracts,” 
for  the  eighth  and  seventh  centuries  B.  C.,  were  published  by  the 
writer  in  1898,  but  the  natives  still  occasionally  find  one  or  two. 
They  are  excessively  rare.  One,  M.  148,  records  the  loan  of  five 
homers  of  barley  by  the  lady  Amat-Ishtar,  in  B.  C.  681.  It  is  also 
interesting  by  its  deviations  from  the  stereotyped  formulae  of  the 
tablets  concerned  with  the  business  of  the  Royal  Household  in 
Nineveh.  It  is  dated  in  the  limmu  of  Nabuacheeresh. 

The  Assyrians  had  modified  the  ancient  Babylonian  custom  of 
giving  each  year  a name  after  some  great  event,  but  they  continued  to 
give  each  year  a name,  the  name  of  some  great  official.  Thus,  in  turn, 
the  king,  the  Tartan  or  Rabshakeh,  commanders  in  chief  of  the  army, 
the  chief  justice,  the  chief  over  the  levy  or  militia,  the  chief  secre- 
tary of  state,  the  chief  steward  and  cupbearer,  and  the  governors 
of  Asshur,  Arbela,  Nineveh,  and  other  great  cities,  in  a fixed  order 
of  precedence,  even  the  governors  of  distant  provinces,  Carchemish, 
Damascus  or  Cilicia,  were  chosen  to  the  office  of  Eponym  for  the 
year.  The  year  was  called  the  limmu  of  whoever  was  thus  Eponym. 


34 


Lists  of  these  Eponyms,  in  strict  chronological  order,  were  drawn 
up  and  are  known  as  the  Eponym  Canons.  Several  copies  are 
known  and  published  giving  an  exact  chronology  from  B.  C.  893  to 
B.  C.  668.  A great  many  names  of  Eponyms  are  to  be  found  on 
dated  documents  which  are  not  in  the  lists  preserved,  but  the  writer 
has  succeeded  in  fixing  the  order  of  the  Post  Canon  Eponyms  down 
to  B.  C.  640.  The  German  explorations  at  Asshur  have  recovered 
many  of  the  early  Eponyms,  whom  it  is  not  possible  to  place  in  order 
yet.  The  discovery  of  each  new  Eponym  is  an  event  in  Assyriology, 
and  when  Professor  Scheil  published  M.  147  in  the  Recueil  de 
Travaux  (vol.  xxiv.,  p.  25),  the  discovery  was  hailed  with  delight. 
The  tablet  records  the  sale  of  a female  slave,  and  is  dated  in  the 
Eponymy  of  Nabutapput-Italak,  the  Rabshakeh.  It  is  after  B.  C. 
640,  and,  of  course,  before  the  fall  of  Nineveh  about  B.  C.  606. 

Syllabary,  M.  145,  is  of  great  interest  as  a specimen  of  the 
vocabularies  drawn  up  by  the  Babylonian  scribes  to  aid  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  archaic  words  and  ways  of  writing.  The  language 
of  the  Pre-Semitic  inhabitants  long  continued  to  be  used  for  the 
religious  and  scientific  works  much  as  Latin  was  the  language  of 
theology  and  science  in  the  Middle  Ages.  These  syllabaries  are  of 
many  kinds.  Some  in  four  columns  give  the  sign  to  be  explained,  the 
name  of  it,  the  pronunciation  in  the  old  language,  Sumerian,  or  other, 
and  the  meaning  of  it  in  Babylonian.  Other  syllabaries  explain 
Sumerian  words  and  phrases  in  Babylonian,  of  which  this  is  an 
example,  notable  for  its  beautiful  writing,  but  unfortunately  only  a 
fragment.  It  was  published  in  the  Recueil  de  Travaux  (vol.  xxvii., 
p.  125). 

ANZANITE  TEXT 

The  Medes  and  Persians,  with  the  help  or  connivance  of  the 
Babylonians,  destroyed  Nineveh  about  B.  C.  606  and  made  an 
end  of  the  empire  of  Assyria.  Cyrus  the  Great  was  a Persian 
of  the  Achaemenid  family,  but  at  first  only  king  of  Anzan,  a dis- 
trict on  the  Babylonian  borders  of  Elam  and  subject  to  Media. 
Nabonidus,  the  last  king  of  Babylonia  of  native  race,  called  Cyrus 
“a  petty  vassal”  of  Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes.  Cyrus,  however, 
by  an  uninterrupted  career  of  conquest  rose  to  be  master  of  the 
whole  of  Western  Asia. 

The  language  of  Anzan,  or  Anshan  as  it  is  called  by  Cyrus,  is 
of  great  interest,  though  not  yet  completely  understood.  Professor 

35 


Scheil  has  published  many  of  the  monuments  from  Susa  in  this 
language.  The  people  used  the  cuneiform  script,  but  in  a modified 
form,  closely  related  to  that  of  the  inscriptions  of  Darius,  Artaxerxes, 
Aerxes,  Cambyses,  etc.,  at  Persepolis,  which  were  first  deciphered 
by  Grotefend  and  Rawlinson.  In  the  publications  of  the  French 
Delegation  en  Perse  will  be  found  a long  series  of  such  inscriptions, 
of  the  deepest  interest  for  the  ancient  history  of  Elam. 

It  was  known  that  the  last  kings  of  Assyria  frequently  corre- 
sponded with  these  kings  of  Elam,  and  in  the  Ninevite  archives  were 
found  a number  of  tablets  in  Anzanite,  which  have  been  published 
by  Dr.  J.  H.  Weishbach  in  the  Beitrage  zur  Assyriologie  (vol.  iv., 
pp.  168-202)  ; but  very  little  progress  has  been  made  in  reading  them. 
M.  150  is  another  such  text,  but  it  is  hazardous  to  attempt  to  state 
its  contents  or  purpose. 

The  most  recent  texts  in  the  collection  are  Neobabylonian.  They 
belong  to  the  empire  founded  by  Nabopolassar,  on  the  fall  of  the 
Assyrian  empire,  of  which  the  most  distinguished  member  was  Nebu- 
chadnezzar II.,  known  to  us  from  the  Bible.  Very  many  tablets  of 
this  period  were  found  at  Sippara,  Borsippa  and  Babylon.  N.  15 
bears  no  date,  nor  does  N.  66,201 ; they  are  exquisite  specimens  of 
writing. 

The  little  statuettes  of  Ishtar  and  the  head  of  Nabu,  N.  198, 
199,  are  very  interesting  for  a study  of  the  plastic  art  in  Babylonia. 
The  little  alabaster  foot  of  an  image  is  rare  and  curious,  N.  200. 

STYLE  OF  WRITING 

The  student  may  remark  some  very  fine  specimens  of  calli- 
graphy, important  for  the  study  of  the  signs  at  these  periods. 

On  M.  37,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  reverse,  are  three  lines  of 
writing  scratched  on  the  tablet  when  nearly  dry  and  not  inscribed. 
They  are  in  very  archaic  characters,  such  as  were  used  before  the 
wedges  became  pronounced.  They  contain  the  name  of  Nammahni, 
father  of  the  last  mentioned  person,  Amel-Nina,  who  received  a ration 
or  loan.  Such  a “docket,”  as  is  usually  called,  may  well  have  been 
written  by  Nammahni  himself,  who  used  an  ancient  method  of 
writing. 

M.  15  is  a beautiful  specimen;  M.  62  is  another;  M.  19  another 
— all  of  early  date,  while  others  have  already  been  noticed, 

36 


FUNERARY  CONE 


N.  197  is  a good  example  of  an  object  of  which  there  are  sev- 
eral examples  in  European  museums,  all  bearing  precisely  the  same 
inscription.  It  appears  to  have  been  placed  on  a stick  to  mark  the 
place  of  a grave.  Professor  Scheil  gave  a partial  account  of  it  in 
Recueil  de  Travaux . (vol.  xxii.,  p.  154  f.).  Professor  Thureau 
Dangin  published  it  in  full  in  the  Orientalistische  Litteratwzeitung 
(vol.  iv.,  p.  5 ff.).  Professor  Delitzsch  quoted  from  it  in  his  lec- 
tures on  Babel  und  Bibel.  It  is  deeply  interesting  for  the  light  it 
throws  on  Babylonian  ideas  of  the  future  world. 

At  any  time, 
in  the  gliding  of  days, 
in  the  days  to  come, 
in  the  days  hereafter, 
this  tomb 

let  one  look  upon  and 
remove  it  not; 

to  its  place  let  him  restore  it. 

Such  a one 
who  sees  this  and 
does  not  disdain  it, 
saith  thus: — 

“This  tomb 

to  its  place  I will  restore  it 
come  to  its  help.” 

Let  him  pour  a libation  on  it. 

In  the  world  above  may  his  name  be  blessed ! 

In  the  world  below 
may  his  spirit  drink 
the  pure  waters! 

As  in  the  Gilgamish  Epic  the  Babylonian  thought  of  the  lot  of 
the  blessed  as  lying  on  a couch  drinking  the  waters  of  life. 


37 


CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS 
CHALDEAN  AND  ASSYRIAN 


CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS 
CHALDEAN  AND  ASSYRIAN 


A collection  of  Chaldean  and  Assyrian  clay  tablets  with  cunei- 
form inscriptions,  formerly  the  property  of  the  Rev.  Father  V.  Scheil, 
S.J.,  professor  of  Assyriology  at  the  Ecole  pratique  des  Hautes- 
Etudes,  at  the  Sorbonne,  Paris. 

ABBREVIATIONS  USED 

O.  L.  Z. — Orientalistische  Litteraturzeitung,  Ed.  F.  E.  Peiser,  pub. 

W.  Peiser,  Berlin,  S.  42,  Brandenburgstrasse  11. 

R.  T. — Recueil  de  Travaux  relatifs  a la  Philologie  et  a l’Archeologie 
Egyptiennes  et  Assyriennes,  Ed.  G.  Maspero,  pub.  E. 
Bouillon,  Paris,  67  Rue  de  Richelieu. 

Z.  A. — Zeitschrift  fur  Assyriologie,  Ed.  C.  Bezold,  Strassburg,  Ver- 
lag,  K.  J.  Triibner. 

N.  B. — This  collection  exhibits  about  1900  lines  of  text.* 

About  60  of  the  texts,  mostly  short  ones,  date  from  the  time  of 
Sargon  I.  and  Naram-Sin,  circa  B.  C.  3800. 

About  40  belong  to  the  dynasty  of  Ur,  circa  B.  C.  2500. 

Nearly  120  are  temple  accounts  from  Lagash  or  Telloh. 

The  tablets  from  Jokha  are  unique,  so  far. 

Ten  tablets  are  Assyrian  and  of  importance  for  the  history,  sev- 
eral being  unique. 

The  five  tablets  with  legends  of  Adapa,  Deluge,  Etana,  Kutha 
are  priceless  and  unique. 

A new  king,  Siniribam,  and  several  other  little  known  rulers,  are 
represented. 

An  extraordinarily  large  proportion  of  the  tablets  are  perfect. 
The  Anzanite  text  is  very  remarkable;  as  yet  it  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  translatable,  but  every  new  text  advances  knowledge  and 
eliminates  errors. 

* Twenty-two  of  the  most  important  texts  have  already  been  published 
by  Professor  Scheil. 


41 


1 Note  of  5 shekels  of  silver  and  5 homers  of 

corn,  served  out  to  each  of  six  persons.  ...  14  1^4  1/4 

2 Note  of  small  cattle  counted  out  and  assigned 

to  several  persons,  perhaps  shepherds 4 1]/%  l-fa 

3 Receipt  for  loan  of  10  shekels  of  silver, 

witnessed  and  sealed 13  1^$  i}£ 

4 Note  as  to  4 gazelles 2 J4 

5 Note  of  20  sheep  sent  for  food 4 i1/^  1*4 

6 Note  of  small  cattle  counted  out 7 1 ^ 

7 Note  of  small  cattle  counted  out 5 il/%  1 

8 Note  of  small  cattle  counted  out 8 1 ]/% 

g Note  of  small  cattle  counted  out  and  assigned 

to  shepherds 12  i}i  1% 

10  Note  of  small  cattle  counted 3 1*4  it*s 

11  Note  of  small  cattle  counted  over  and 

entrusted  to  shepherds 13  1 )/%  1*4 

12  Note  of  sheep  and  birds  (?)  counted 7 % ]/% 

13  Note  of  kids  entrusted  to  various  persons.  ...  12  1^4  1 24 

14  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 1^4  1/4 

75  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  Isin-Dungi  8 IT(T 

id  Note  of  kids  entrusted  to  Ur-Ishtar 3 % 24 

17  Note  of  skins  given  out 6 1 1 

18  Note  of  rations  in  meal 7 1 1 

ig  Note  of  rations  served  out 11  ij4  i24 

20  Fragment  of  list  of  rations 11  i£4  IH 

21  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 % % 

22  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  gud-du- 

NE-SAR-SAR  7 1*4  I 

23  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  meal 6 £4  24 

24  Note  of  rations  served  out 4 J4  % 

23  Fragment  of  list  of  rations 11  124  I£4 

26  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 Va  24 

27  Note  of  rations  served  out 7 i_j4  1 

28  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  meal,  sacks  (?) 

of  fish,  etc 5 1H 

2g  Note  concerning  621  fish 7 i24  1 Ya 


42 


30  Note  of  rations  served  out  to  Dada 3 Y Y& 

31  Note  of  rations  served  out.  4 -}% 

32  Note  of  rations  served  out 3 1^ 

33  Note  of  rations  served  out 9 1 Y 

34  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 Y>  Y 

33  Note  of  50  doves  counted  by  Amel-Udda.  ...  3 Y Y 

36  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 Y 

37  Note  of  silver  delivered  to  different  persons.  10  iY  lY* 

38  Note  of  delivery  of  articles  to  Ati  son  of 

Laban  6 V/2  iY 

39  Receipt  for  spices  served  out  in  month  of  Isin- 

Tamzi  11  lY  lY 

40  Note  as  to  musical  instruments  served  out.  . . 41  1 

41  Note  of  rations  served  out 2 

42  Order  for  thousands  of  bricks 7 iY  Iii 

43  Note  of  rations  served  out 3 Y Y 

44  Note  of  rations  served  out.  . 10  iY  IY 

45  Fragment  of  list  of  rations 8 iY  1Y 

46  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 Y 

47  Note  of  rations  served  out 8 \]/\  iY 

48  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 Y Y 

49  Receipt  for  loan  of  corn  in  month  asha; 

Dungi  46  12  1 Y llA 

30  Rations  served  out 6 Y>  Y 

31  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 Y it 

32  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 Y> 

33  Note  of  fishes  received  and  served  out.  .....  9 iY  1Y 

34  Note  of  rations  served  out 7 lY  LT4 

33  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  she-il-la  8 iY  1 

56  Note  of  rations  served  out ................  8 1 

57  Note  of  quantities  of  food  and  drink  (ra- 

tions ?)  10  1Y2  1V2 

38  Note  of  rations  served  out.  11  2 1^4 

39  Fragment  of  accounts.  5 iY  1Y 

60  Fragment  of  accounts 11  iY  1Y 

61  List  of  names 7 1^2  iY 

62  List  of  quantities  of  provender  for  asses 30  2 lY 


43 


63  Bulla  for  one  person 2 i I 

64  Pass  for  3 women 1 $/& 

65  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 1 1/% 

66  Incantation  text,  very  early  example,  R.  T. 

XXVIII.  p.  216 13  1 24  1 H 

67  Dedication  of  vase  to  goddess  Nisaba;  O.  L.  Z. 

VII.  284.. 13  3^  1 

68  List  of  places  in  neighborhood  of  Telloh  with 

amounts  of  taxes  due;  R.  T.  XX.  69 56  \]/2  4% 

69  Note  of  rations  served  out;  Bur-Sin  1 8 1 *4  1H 

70  Deed  of  sale  from  Jokha,  ancient  gish-uh  ; 

R.  T.  XIX.  63,  Urbilku,  Patesi 35  4 H 2 

71  Deed  of  sale  of  a house,  from  Jokha;  R.  T. 

XIX.  63,  Dungi  37,  Urbilku,  Patesi....  20  2%  1% 

72  List  of  slaves  and  owners  from  Jokha 7 2]/%  i$4 

73  Legal  decision  by  Patesi;  Dungi  45 6 il/2  1 

74  Receipt  for  20  ewes  in  month  Isin-Ninasu; 

Gimil-Sin  3 8 1%  i/4 

75  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  Isin- 

Dungi ; Gimil-Sin  3 7 1 

76  Return  of  corn  from  two  fields  in  month  Isin- 

Bau;  Dungi  47  a 13 

77  Cargo  account  in  month  Amarasi;  Bur-Sin  8 12  iT^  if 

78  Cargo  account  of  ship  from  Susa  to  Telloh 

with  sesame,  crew  of  36;  Bur-Sin  6,  R.  T. 

XXII.  153  9 1%  I'A 

79  Note  of  allowances  to  messengers  from  Sa- 

bum,  etc 24  1 y& 

80  Note  of  rations  served  out 13  1 1/%  1 

81  Note  of  rations  served  out 25  1^6  1 

82  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  Isin- 

Dungi  15  iMs 

83  Note  of  corn  delivered  by  order  of  two  officials  3 1 

84  Receipt  for  meal  in  month  she-il-la 8 1^5  1 

83  Receipt  for  loan  of  7 Yz  shekels  of  silver,  inter- 
est 5 shekels,  month  shu-kul-a;  Bur-Sin  8 16  1 y2  i}£ 

86  Receipt  for  loan  of  corn  and  silver;  Dungi  31  9 1^6  1&6 


44 


87  Receipt  for  loan  of  corn  in  month  Isin-Dungi ; 

Bur-Sin  n 12  1 34 

88  Loan  of  corn  to  Gudea;  Dungi  46 13  ifa  i% 

89  List  of  names,  time  of  an-a-an  the  king; 

R.T.  XXIV.  25 10  1 y2  i« 

90  List  of  advances  to  several  persons 18  1/4 

91  Bulla  for  one  ram  to  Ribamilti,  shepherd. ...  3 1^  1 A 

92  Bulla  for  one  ram  to  same 3 i*4  lA 

93  Bulla  for  one  ram  to  same 3 lA  1^2 

94  Bulla  for  one  ram  to  same 6 lA  lA 

95  Bulla  for  one  ram  to  Haliaum 3 1 A 1 A 

96  Bulla  for  two  kids,  good  seal  impressions.  ...  2 lA  lA 

97  Receipt  for  two  brick  moulds  ( ?)  ; Gimil- 

Sin  1 9 iys  1 

98  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  gan-mash  9 iA  1 

99  Note  of  rations  served  out 5 1^4  1 A 

100  Bulla  for  one  big  ox  to  Apia 3 iA  1A 

1 01  Order  for  corn  from  two  officials 7 1^2  iA 

102  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  Isin- 

Dungi  7 1 % 

103  Note  of  rations  served  out  to  Beliaurugal, 

patesi  of  Susa,  in  month  gan-mash  ; R.  T. 

XXII.  p.  153 ; 9 iH  l3A 

104  Note  of  295  cattle  confided  to  Namhani,  shep- 

herd of  Ur-Ninsu 10  2 iA 

105  Note  of  rations  served  out 13  iA  i/4 

106  Receipt  for  6 women  hired  for  1 day  by  Ur- 

Abba;  Bur-Sin  8 8 iA  iT\ 

107  Calculation  of  hire  of  123  workmen;  R.  T. 

XXII.  1 5 1 , Bur-Sin  2 13  2 iA 

108  Loan  of  four  wooden  implements;  R.  T. 

XVII.  38,  Gimil-Sin  6a 9 I A lA 

109  Receipt  for  quantities  of  wool;  Gimil-Sin  1, 

Bur-Sin  11  10  1^2  iA 

no  Account  of  revenues  furnished  by  3 cities; 

Gimil-Sin  8 8 i'/z  1 A 


45 


hi  Note  of  rations  served  out  to  messenger  from 

Susa  io  !*/& 

1 12  Rations  for  people  from  Huhunuri  and  Sa- 

bum  15  \l/2  1 J4 

1 13  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  zib-ku.  . 12  1 1 

1 14  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  she-il-la  io  i 

11 5 Note  of  rations  served  out  to  officials  from 

Sabum  11  i^4  i/4 

116  Note  of  rations  served  out  to  Gudea  in  month 

SHE-IL-LA  14  1^4 

1 17  Note  of  rations  served  out 15  1^2  i}4 

1 18  Note  of  rations  served  out;  Bur-Sin 14  1 % 

1 19  Note  of  rations  served  out  in  month  gan- 

MASH  5 I I 

120  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 1^4  llA 

121  Note  of  rations  served  out  to  Gudea  in  month 

Isin-Dungi  10  1%  1/4 

122  List  of  names 6 1^4 

123  Note  of  rations  served  out 6 % ?/s 

124  List  of  foreigners  with  amounts  (of  taxes  ?), 

time  of  Rim-Anum;  R.  T.  XX.  64 23  3j4  2 

123  List  of  contributions  in  accession  year  of  Sin- 

iribam;  O.  L.  Z.  VIII.  350 33  3%  ij4 

126  Seeds  of  vegetables  given  out  to  five  barbers, 

King  an-a-an;  R.  T.  XXIV.  25 18  2 1 

127  List  of  corn  loans,  month  ash-a.  King  Ardi- 

ne-ne;  O.  L.  Z.  VIII.  351 11  1 Yi  1 % 

128  Fragment  of  the  Legend  of  Kutha;  R.  T. 

XX.  65  73  3H  4 X 

129  Mythological  fragment  naming  Uddushu- 

namir  and  other  patesis;  R.  T.  XX.  63..  13  2^4  2^4 

130  Fragment  of  the  Legend  of  Etana,  R.  T. 

XXIII.  18  55  2^4  4 

1 31  Fragment  of  a new  mythological  legend 13  2^4  4% 

132  Receipt  for  corn;  Ammiditana  15 9 H H 

46 


133  List  of  names,  with  seal  bearing  image  of  Ishtar 

as  a cow;  R.  T.  XX.  62 11  2^4  1^4 

134  Fragment  of  barrel  cylinder  naming  Samsu- 

iluna  29  4>4  3 

135  Fragment  of  the  Deluge  Legend;  R.  T.  XX. 

55  ; 63  3/4 

136  Flake  of  reverse  of  corn  loan;  Ammizaduga  15  4 1^4  1^4 

137  Fragment  of  inscription  on  dolerite,  door 

socket  (?),  Kurigalzu  I.,  King  of  Ur; 

R.  T.  XXIII.  133  3 3^4  4 H 

138  Part  of  a cone  (?)  naming  Ushpia  and  Eri- 

shum  early  patesis  of  Assyria;  R.  T.  XXII. 

156  11  4 3^4 

139  Part  of  annals  of  Arikdenilu,  king  of  Assyria; 

O.  L.  Z.  VII.  216 32  3 2^4 

140  Fragment  of  historical  inscription  of  Assyrian 

king  11  3 3 14 

1 41  List  of  names 17  4^4  2 

142  Fragment  of  inscription  of  Assyrian  king.  ...  33  3^4  3^4 

143  Fragment  of  inscription  of  Assyrian  king.  ...  14  2 i£4 

144  Fragment  of  the  Legend  of  Adapa;  R.  T. 

XX.  127  30  2^4  2J6 

143  Fragment  of  a syllabary;  R.  T.  XXVII, 

P-125  35  2 2 

146  Receipt  for  loan  of  12^4  shekels  of  silver,  1st 

of  Elul,  Shamashshumukin  15,  at  Nagiti; 

R.  T.  XXIV.  28 14  i54  1 Vs 

147  Deed  of  sale  of  female  slave,  Eponymy  of 

Nabutapputalak,  after  B.  C.  640 18  i£4  1/4 

148  Deed  of  loan  of  5 homers  of  barley  by  Amat- 

Ishtar  to  Ashurkassun,  B.  C.  681 15  2 1 

149  Fragment  of  charter  of  Sinsharishkun ; Z.  A. 

XI.  47  _ 18  3?4  3 

130  Anzanite  text,  four-sided  prism 14  2^4  Y\ 


47 


CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS 
BABYLONIAN  AND  ASSYRIAN 


CUNEIFORM  INSCRIPTIONS 
BABYLONIAN  AND  ASSYRIAN 


A collection  of  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  clay  tablets  with  cunei- 
form inscriptions,  formerly  the  property  of  the  Sheik  of  Abu  Habba. 

ABBREVIATIONS 

A denotes  tablet  from  Abu  Habba. 

B denotes  tablet  from  Babylon. 

T denotes  tablet  from  Telloh. 

The  collection  exhibits  about  5400  lines  of  text. 

At  least  90  tablets  are  perfect  and  30  others  nearly  so,  a very 
unusual  proportion. 

Forty  tablets  date  from  the  times  of  the  very  early  kings  and 
patesis  of  Lagash,  B.  C.  4000. 

Over  150  tablets  date  from  the  first  dynasty  of  Babylon,  and 
were  found  at  Abu  Habba. 

At  least  one  new  king  is  represented  by  No.  49,  some  20  new 
dates  not  being  yet  fixed  in  their  correct  chronological  sequence. 

Two  tablets  come  from  Bismaya  and  are  as  yet  excessively  rare 
in  Europe. 

The  collection  is  exceptionally  valuable  for  the  chronology  of 
the  First  Dynasty. 

A large  number  of  texts  are  remarkable  for  beauty  of  script. 

All  these  tablets  are  unpublished  except  No.  197,  a duplicate  of 
O.  L.  Z.  IV.  5. 


1 Sale  of  a building;  Sinmubalit  14,  perfect,  A.  24 

2 Legal  decision;  Sinmubalit  14,  perfect,  A.  . . . 33 

3 Loan  of  silver;  Sinmubalit  6,  perfect,  A.  . . . 19 

4 Sale  of  a field;  Sumulailu  19,  perfect,  A.  . . . 26 

5 Money  loan ; Ammiditana  1 1 , perfect,  A . . . . 17 

6 Loan  of  oil;  Ammizaduga  16,  perfect,  A.  . . . 16 

7 Money  accounts;  Ammizaduga  16,  perfect,  A 14 


^3 


Is 

s 

e 

a £ 

ll 

88.5 

2 H 

1 H 

3t/2 

2 

2% 

i1 2 3 4 5 6 7A 

2 H 

iH 

iVs 

1 34 

iy2 

1 H 

51 


8 Loan  of  silver  by  the  god  Shamash;  Ammi- 

zaduga  8,  nearly  perfect,  A n i£4  1/4 

g Trust  deed  for  small  cattle,  new  kind  of  docu- 
ment; Ammizaduga  15,  perfect,  A 18  1%  1% 

10  Sale  of  burbal  estate;  Zabium  8,  perfect,  A.  . 28  zlA  2 

11  Money  account;  Ammizaduga  5,  perfect,  A.  17  2 A 2 

12  Corn  account;  no  date,  perfect,  A 14  2}4  2 

13  Money  account;  Ammizaduga  16,  perfect,  A.  14  ij4  1% 

14  Money  account;  Ammizaduga  13,  perfect,  A 13  i^4  1^4 

75  Corn  account;  no  date,  Neobabylonian,  end 

broken  off,  B 11  i$4  2/4 

16  Corn  account;  Ammizaduga  13,  imperfect,  A.  11  2j4  2/4 

77  Corn  account;  no  date,  perfect,  A 23  2%  2 

18  Corn  account;  Ammiditana  13,  perfect,  A.  . . . 15  2 I % 

ig  Letter;  no  date,  perfect,  A 40  2%  1^4 

20  Seal  impression,  label  or  pass;  no  date,  nearly 

perfect,  A o 194  3/4 

21  Corn  account;  24th  of  Elul,  nearly  perfect,  A 21  2^4  i/4 

22  Corn  account;  Ammizaduga  E,  perfect,  A..  14  2 1^4 

23  Money  account  (wages  bill  ?) ; 14th  of  Tam- 

muz,  perfect,  A 8 1^4  I 94 

24  Sale  of  burbal  estate,  fragment  of  the  envelope 

of  No.  10 11  2^4  lZA 

25  Bread,  or  meal  account;  Ammizaduga  E,  per- 

fect, A 11  2 1 $4 

26  Letter;  probably  to  the  king;  no  date,  perfect, 

A 14  2/4  2 

27  Sale  of  22  palm  trees;  Ammizaduga  13,  per- 

fect, A 24  2^4  2 

28  Sale  of  burbal  estate;  Apil-Sin  C (7?),  per- 

fect, A 31  324  1 Vs 

2g  Sale  of  3-year-old  cow;  Samsuditana  I.,  per- 
fect, A 24  2j4  i94 

30  Meal  account;  16th  of  Ab,  perfect,  A 13  2 2 

31  Wages  bill;  5th  of  Elul,  perfect,  A 8 1^4  *24 

32  Corn  account;  no  date,  perfect,  A 18  2 i24 

33  Wages  bill;  1st  Sivan,  perfect,  A 8 1^4  *24 


52 


34  Dedication  of  maid  to  a god,  or  manumission  ; 

Samsuditana  A,  perfect,  A 

35  Memorandum ; no  date,  nearly  perfect,  A . . . 

36  Sale  of  2-year-old  cow;  Ammiditana  25,  nearly 

perfect,  A 

37  Corn  account;  Ammizaduga  E,  perfect  A.  . . 

38  Roll  call  of  militia;  Ammizaduga  13,  perfect, 

A 

3Q  Sale  of  3-year-old  cow;  Ammiditana  24,  per- 
fect, A 

40  Rations  served  out  or  corn  account;  the  year 

Simurum  was  destroyed,  nearly  perfect,  T. 

41  Rations  served  out  or  corn  account;  the  year 

Simurum  was  destroyed,  nearly  perfect,  T 

42  Rations  served  out  or  corn  account;  the  year 

Simurum  was  destroyed,  nearly  perfect,  T 

43  Rations  served  out  or  corn  account;  the  year 

Simurum  was  destroyed,  nearly  perfect,  T 

44  Sale  of  one-year-old  cow,  perfect  case  of  No. 

47;  Ammizaduga  2,  A 

45  Rations  served  out;  same  date  as  No.  40,  re- 

verse weathered,  T 

46  Rations  served  out;  year  the  temple  of  Gur, 

nearly  perfect,  T 

47  Sale  of  one-year-old  cow;  Ammizaduga  2,  per- 

fect, A 

48  Rations  served  out;  same  date  as  No.  40, 

nearly  perfect,  T 

49  Loan  of  silver;  Ammikinabi,  perfect,  A 

50  Meal  account;  18th  day,  perfect,  A 

51  Letter;  no  date,  perfect,  A 

52  Temple  accounts,  fish,  etc.,  7 columns;  Uru- 

kagina  king  of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 

53  Temple  accounts,  skins,  etc.,  7 columns;  Lugal- 

anda,  patesi  of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 

54  Sale  of  a field;  Sumulailu  6,  perfect,  A.  . . . 


G 

3 

Length 

inches 

Breadtl 

inches 

20 

2V& 

2% 

12 

2 

2 

23 

3K 

2% 

l6 

2 

2 

30 

2^ 

2 

22 

2 H 

2 

19 

2^ 

iVs 

26 

2 

iH 

l8 

iH 

1 H 

15 

2 

1/2 

4 

35/s 

2^4 

16 

1% 

15 

iH 

1 y% 

23 

2% 

1*4 

15 

2 

1 Vs 

15 

2 

iH 

15 

i H 

1 H 

3i 

2 % 

iH 

3i 

2 H 

2 H 

37 

3 H 

3V2 

30 

3 ZA 

1 H 

53 


55  Sale  of  3-year-old  cow;  Ammiditana  20,  dam- 

aged, A 27  314  2 

56  Sale  of  adult  bull,  portions  broken  out;  Am- 

miditana 7,  damaged,  A 19  334  2 

57  Roll  call;  no  date,  perfect,  A 14  1^4  1 

58  Loan  of  money  and  corn;  Ammizaduga  14, 

perfect,  A 13  il/2  \l/2 

59  Sale  of  bull  for  chariot;  Ammiditana  34,  dam- 

aged, A 26  334  2 

60  Corn  account  for  each  day  of  a month,  Neo- 

babylonian;  no  date,  perfect,  B 23  2^4  1/4 

61  Corn  account;  Ammizaduga  13,  A 8 i}4  lj4 

62  Letter  to  a brother;  no  date,  perfect,  A 26  i£4  1 J4 

63  Corn  account;  26th  of  Teshri,  perfect,  A...  26  2^4  2 

64  Sale  of  female  slave;  Ammiditana  13,  dam- 

aged, A 30  334  2 

63  Temple  accounts;  same  date  as  No.  4,  dam- 
aged, T 12  2 1 34 

66  Legal  decision;  Abeshu  U,  damaged,  A 24  3 2 

67  Corn  account,  Neobabylonian ; 4th  of  Sivan, 

nearly  perfect,  B 24  2^4  2 

68  Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  8,  damaged,  A.  . 27  3^4  2^4 

69  Temple  accounts;  no  date,  damaged,  T 5 1^4  1^4 

70  Bitumen  seal  of  jar,  with  seal;  no  date,  nearly 

perfect,  T 1^4  1^4 

71  Temple  accounts;  21  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T 326  7^4  7 ^4 

72  Temple  accounts;  19  cols.,  date  lost,  much 

damaged,  T 218  534  5H 

73  Temple  accounts;  17  cols.,  date  lost,  much 

damaged,  T 183  534  5 

74  Temple  accounts;  13  cols.,  Urukagina  patesi 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T 138  534  4/4 

75  Temple  accounts;  17  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T 148  5 4 34 


54 


76  Temple  accounts;  12  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T no  4 4*4 

77  Temple  accounts;  12  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T 120  4 ^ 4*4 

78  Temple  accounts,  19  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  much  damaged,  T 239  5*4  5 % 

79  Temple  accounts;  10  cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  nearly  perfect,  T 105  4 4 

80  Temple  accounts,  skins  chiefly;  7 cols.,  Lugal- 

anda  patesi  of  Lagash,  nearly  perfect,  T.  . 47  3 3^4 

81  Temple  accounts;  10  cols.,  date  lost,  damaged, 

T 73  4 K 4 

82  Temple  accounts;  5 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  nearly  perfect,  T 28  2^4  2Va 

8 3 Temple  accounts;  7 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  nearly  perfect,  T 43  3 

84  Temple  accounts;  5 cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 29  2^4  2^4 

85  Temple  accounts;  8 cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  a fragment,  T 30  3 3J/2 

86  Temple  accounts;  8 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 50  3^2  3*4 

87  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T 17  2%  2% 

88  Temple  accounts;  6 cols.,  no  date,  damaged,  T 26  2^2  2^4 

89  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T.  21  2 2 

90  Temple  accounts;  3 cols.,  Urukagina  king  of 

Lagash,  perfect,  T 12  2^4  2*4 

91  Temple  accounts;  2 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T.  12  2^4  2 /4 

92  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 20  2^4  2 

93  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  no  date,  nearly  per- 

fect, T 13  ij4  itt 

94  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 16  2 %.  2^4 

95  Temple  accounts;  3 cols.,  Urukagina  king 

of  Lagash,  perfect,  T 15  2^4  2*4 


55 


g6  Temple  accounts;  7 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi 

of  Lagash,  fragment,  T 30  2^4  2% 

97  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi, 

perfect,  T 18  2 >4  2 >4 

98  Temple  accounts;  3 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi, 

nearly  perfect,  T 11  2%  2 % 

99  Temple  accounts;  2 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T 5 2^4  2 

100  Temple  accounts;  5 cols.,  no  date,  nearly  per- 

fect, T 19  2^4  2l/s 

101  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Lugalanda  patesi, 

damaged,  T 20  2T/&  2% 

102  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Urukagina,  dam- 

aged, T 18  2^4  234 

103  Temple  accounts;  3 cols.,  Urukagina  king  of 

Lagash,  perfect,  T 22  2^)4  2*4 

104  Temple  accounts;  3 cols.,  Enlitarzi  patesi  of 

Lagash,  damaged,  T 12  2 2*4 

105  Temple  accounts;  2 cols.,  no  date,  damaged,  T.  6 lfy 

106  Temple  accounts;  2 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T.  9 ij4  ij4 

107  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  date  lost,  damaged, 

T 15  2%  234 

108  Temple  accounts;  4 cols.,  Urukagina  king, 

damaged,  T 16  i}4  i/4 

109  Temple  accounts;  2 cols.,  no  date,  perfect,  T.  5 1 24  lY\ 

no  Temple  accounts ; 2 cols.,  no  date,  illegible,  T.  11  1^4  lYx 

hi  Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  27,  fragment,  A.  19  2^4  2 

1 12  Marriage  contract;  Ammiditana  3,  pieces 

gone,  A 28  3%  234 

11 3 Sale  of  female  slave;  Abeshu  S,  lower  edge 

gone,  A 22  3 J4  2Va 

1 14  Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  34,  weathered,  A.  17  2^4  2 

11 3 Trust  deed  for  cattle;  Ammizaduga  1,  per- 
fect, A 17  2 2 

1 16  Loan  of  money;  Ammiditana  31,  perfect,  A.  16  1^4  lY\ 

1 17  Account  rendered;  Ammiditana  24,  nearly  per- 

fect, A 11  1 Y\  lH 

1 18  Account  rendered;  Ammiditana  24,  perfect,  A.  20  2 1^4 

56 


i ig 
120 
121 
122 

123 

124 

125 

126 
127 
128 
129 

130 

131 

132 

133 

134 

135 

136 

137 

138 

139 

140 
141 
142 
H3 
144 

H5 

146 

147 

148 

149 

150 


Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  18,  perfect,  A. . . . 
Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  37,  damaged,  A. 

Accounts;  Ammizaduga  H,  perfect,  A 

Hire  of  ox  by  several  partners;  Abeshu,  frag- 
ment, A 

Sale  of  female  slave;  Ammiditana  21,  weath- 
ered, A 

Assignment  of  property  for  debt;  Ammiditana 

29,  damaged,  A 

Share  of  family  estate;  date  lost,  damaged,  A. 
Memorandum;  Ammizaduga  5,  perfect,  A.. 
Memorandum;  Ammizaduga  3,  perfect,  A.. 

Deposit;  Ammiditana  28,  damaged,  A 

Deposit;  date  lost,  A 

Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  31,  perfect,  A.  . . 
Loan  of  silver,  Ammiditana  19,  damaged,  A. 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammizaduga  1,  damaged,  A. 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  9,  perfect,  A.  . . 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammizaduga  2,  badly  broken, 

A 

Loan  of  silver;  date  gone,  mere  fragment,  A. 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  19,  weathered,  A 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  32,  damaged,  A. 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  13,  damaged,  A. 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  ( ?),  damaged,  A. 
Deposit  of  silver;  Ammiditana  33,  damaged,  A 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  29,  perfect,  A.  . 
Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  11,  damaged,  A. 

Deed  of  exchange;  Abeshu,  damaged,  A 

Loan  of  oil;  Ammiditana  36,  perfect,  A. . . . 
Lease  of  fields;  date  lost,  only  lower  part,  A. 

Case  of  tablet ; no  date,  perfect,  A 

Corn  account;  no  date,  perfect,  A 

Sale  of  a house;  reign  of  Abeshu,  no  date, 

lower  half  only,  A 

Loan  of  silver ; Ammiditana  29,  pieces  gone,  A 
Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  32,  damaged,  A.  . 


J3 


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57 


1 51  Loan  of  corn;  Ammiditana  16,  weathered,  A.  13  1 % 1 % 

152  Trust  deed  for  sheep;  Ammiditana  25,  edge 

gone,  A 13  iS/8  iy2 

153  Corn  account,  names  Crown  Princess  Iltani; 

Ammiditana  13,  perfect,  A 11  1^6  1^2 

154  Order,  or  report;  no  date,  perfect,  A 7 i1/* 

155  Corn  account,  names  Princess  Iltani;  no  date, 

perfect,  A 12  1^4 

156  Lease  of  fields;  date  lost,  a fragment,  A.  . . . 15  1^  1 *4 

157  Legal  decision  on  lease  of  estate;  date  lost, 

fragment,  A 16  1^4 

158  List  of  hired  workmen;  no  date,  fragment,  A.  8 % 2 

159  Loan  of  silver;  date  lost,  fragment,  A 7 1 % il/% 

160  Loan  of  corn  (rations  possibly),  Iltani;  no 

date,  perfect,  A 6 1^2 

1 61  Lease  of  field;  date  lost,  pieces  lost,  A 21  2]/s  1 Y\ 

162  Loan  of  money  for  reapers;  Ammiditana  12, 

pieces  lost,  A 11  1^4  1 

163  Corn  rations;  new  date,  perfect,  from  Bis- 

maya  7 1^2  1^2 

164  Loan  of  money  to  buy  corn;,Abeshu  15,  from 

Bismaya  15 

165  Loan  of  corn;  no  date,  fragment,  A 24  2^4  2%. 

166  Corn  account;  no  date,  fragment,  A 18  1^2  1^2 

167  Corn  list  of  rations  (?),  no  date,  fragment,  A.  14  2]/%  2 

168  Money  loan;  Ammizaduga  (?),  fragment,  A.  8 i£4 

169  Corn  list;  Samsuditana  L,  perfect,  A 11  ifyi  1 

170  Corn  list;  no  date,  perfect,  A 6 i5/s 

17 1 Corn  loan;  Ammizaduga  O,  fragment,  A...  11  1^4  1A 

172  Account  rendered;  Ammizaduga  T,  fragment, 

A 16  iy2 

173  Corn  list;  no  date,  fragment,  A 15  2]/\  2}£ 

174  List  of  houses  with  their  rents;  no  date,  frag- 

ment, A 17  2/4 

175  Corn  list;  no  date,  perfect,  A 9 lZA 

176  List  of  gifts;  no  date,  perfect,  A 9 i^4  I/4 

58 


J77  Loan  of  oil;  Ammizaduga  n,  nearly  perfect, 

A 16  2^4  i H 

178  Loan  of  corn;  Ammizaduga  8,  fragment,  A. . 17  2 i24 

17 9 Corn  list;  no  date,  weathered,  A 7 i?4  i24 

180  Lease  of  a field;  date  lost,  fragment,  A 20  224  i£4 

181  List  of  money  spent;  Samsuditana  S,  nearly 

perfect,  A 10  ij4  2 

182  Letter;  no  date,  lower  piece,  A 19  i24 

183  List  of  initum;  Samsuditana  S,  pieces  gone, 

A 21  224  2^4 

184  List  of  initum;  Samsuditana  S,  pieces  gone, 

A 13  2^4  2^4 

185  Loan  of  silver;  date  lost,  defaced,  A 15  124 

186  Lower  edge  of  a large  tablet;  Samsuditana  B, 

A 4 3/4 

187  Religious  text;  Samsuiluna  7,  pieces  gone,  B.  31  3^4  2^4 

188  Religious  text  in  two  cols.,  no  date,  fragment, 

A 78  6 2}4 

189  Accounts;  no  date,  A 12  324  3 

190  Possibly  historical  text;  no  date,  calcined, 

B (?)  20  324  2^4 

191  Loan  of  corn  for  reapers;  Ammiditana  25,  top 

edge  gone,  A 13  ij4  I ZA 

192  Loan  of  corn;  Ammizaduga  T,  obverse  lost, 

A (?)  6 1 34  i24 

193  Corn  loan;  no  date,  perfect,  A 10  1^4  i24 

194  Loan  of  money;  Ammizaduga  U,  fragment,  A 13  1^4  x34 

193  Loan  of  corn;  Ammizaduga  16,  nearly  per- 
fect, A 19  1 24  iH 

196  Contract  Neobabylonian ; no  date,  corners 

gone,  B 40  4>4  2^4 

197  Funerary  cone;  no  date,  damaged,  B 40  3^4  2^4 

198  Statuette  of  Ishtar;  no  date,  feet  gone,  A.  . . . 3^4  1/4 

199  Statuette  of  Nabu,  head,  Ishtar  body;  no  date, 

A 4 Vs  i'A 

200  Alabaster  foot  of  small  image ; no  date,  A . . . 2 24 


59 


201 

202 

203 

204 

205 

206 


207 

208 


209 

210 


21 1 


212 

213 

214 

215 

216 


217 

218 


219 

220 
221 

222 

223 

224 


Rations  served  out;  no  date,  perfect,  B 

Fragment  of  tablet;  no  date,  A 

Fragment  of  tablet;  no  date,  A 

Lease  of  fallow  land;  date  lost,  damaged,  A. 
Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  Ampjiditana 

(?),  heart  shaped,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  no  date,  fine 

seals,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  duplicate  of 

last,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  duplicate  of 

last,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  duplicate  of 

last,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  duplicate  of 

last,  A 

Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  different  seals, 

A 

Jar  stopper  with  seal,  A 

Statement  of  area  of  field  and  corn  rent,  A.  . 
Lease  of  estate;  Samsuditana  C,  nearly  per- 
fect, A 

Magical  text;  no  date,  fragment,  A 

Loan  of  silver;  Ammizaduga  8,  pieces  broken 

out,  A 

Temple  accounts,  list  of  clothes,  etc. ; no  date, 

damaged,  T 

Money  lent,  with  weights  of  silver;  Ammidi- 

tana  21,  perfect,  A 

Money  account;  Ammizaduga  5,  lower  half 

gone,  A 

Lease  of  field;  Abeshu  28,  perfect,  A 

Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  28,  corner  gone, 

A 

Loan  of  silver;  date  lost,  top  edge  gone,  A.  . . 
Lease  of  fields;  Samsuditana  D,  perfect,  A.. 
Hire  of  house;  Ammizaduga  13,  damaged,  A. 


» 

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60 


22  J Sale  of  field;  Hammurabi  14,  half  reverse 

gone,  A 32  4 % 2 Ji 

226  Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  no  date,  per- 

fect, A 3 1%  1 

227  Bulla  or  label  sent  with  goods;  no  date,  per- 

fect, A 3 iji 

228  Religious  text;  no  date,  weathered,  A......  49  5*4  2 

229  Bulla,  or  label;  no  date,  perfect,  A 2 1^4  1 

2 jo  Bulla,  or  label;  no  date,  perfect,  A 2 1%  I 

2ji  Loan  of  silver;  Ammizaduga  13,  corner  gone, 

A 13  i}£  it/s 

2J2  Loan  of  silver;  date  uncertain,  nearly  per- 
fect, A 7 1%  1 

2JJ  Loan  of  silver;  Ammizaduga  9,  nearly  per- 
fect, A 14  i*4  1 H 

2J4  Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana,  weathered,  A.  . 18  3^4  1% 

235  Memorandum,  Neobabylonian ; no  date,  edge 

gone,  B 15  iji  iy2 

236  Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  16,  edge  gone,  A 11  ij4  i£4 

2 jy  Rations  served  out,  Neobabylonian ; no  date, 

reverse  half  gone,  B 23  3 1^4 

238  Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  25,  edge  gone,  A 19  ij4  i*H$ 

239  List  of  names  with  contributions  or  rations, 

lot  of  lines  apparently  effaced 8 3f4  2 

240  Loan  of  silver;  Ammiditana  12,  perfect,  A.  . 15  1%  1^4 

241  Corn  account,  mention  of  horses  ( !) ; 24th  of 

Nisan,  perfect,  A 14  1^4 

242  Roll  call  with  check  marks  to  each  name;  per- 

fect, A 25  2 2 

24 3 Corn  list  (rations  ?)  ; perfect,  A 11  1^4  1 Ya 


61 


Of  this  edition  of  the  catalogue  of 
“Cuneiform  Inscriptions;  Chaldean, 
Babylonian  and  Assyrian,”  there  have 
been  printed  two  hundred  and  fifty 
copies  during  the  month  of  April 
MCMVIII. 


p 


GETTY  RESEARCH  INSTITUTE 


3 3125  01536  0825 


